Love Story
by Chikasumi Kurotsuki
Summary: A love story about Clary and Jace with the song Love Story by Taylor Swift as inspiration.
1. Birthday Ball

Love Story

_**So I decided to write several individual stories based off of songs I like with both Mortal Instruments characters and Infernal Devices characters. I would just like to say that Cassandra Clare owns all of the characters, not me, and that for this story in particular Taylor Swift owns the song that I used to base it off of. I do own this story in itself though. **_

_**This first story is about Jace and Clary basically as Romeo and Juliet like in Love Story by Taylor Swift, I hope you like it. (Side note: Some relationships between characters may be slightly different.)**_

The stars were finally visible as Clary leaned on the railing of her balcony. She was watching the other couples dance as she took a break from all of the festivities. She felt a little bad since it was all in honor of her, it being her birthday and all, but she had needed a break from all of the boys she had no interest in what so ever asking her to dance.

"Clary."

She turned around to see her mother standing in the doorway of her room.

"You really should come back down." Jocelyn said when Clary didn't respond.

"I will, just give me a couple more moments." Clary responded with a slight smile.

"Just don't take too long, your father's been looking for you."

"Yes, Mother," Clary said as her mother left.

Clary turned back around and looked down at the girls in their fancy dresses and boys in their clean cut suits. With a slight sigh Clary picked up the skirt of her gold silk dress and made her way back down to the courtyard where her parents were waiting for her.

Placing her mask back on her face, Clary started to make her way to the refreshments table that was on the other side of the dancing sea of people. She was almost their when a set of golden eyes caught her attention. Clary paused for a moment as the figure kept walking towards her. The boy was taller than her (not that that was saying much, it wasn't too hard to be taller than her), had golden somewhat curly hair, and wearing black pants and a loose white dress shirt that was shear enough to see the runes on his skin. His mask was simple and black, no designs, no fancy shape.

Clary's heart stopped a beat as he stopped in front of her with an amused smirk on his face.

"Would you like to dance," the boy asked as he held his hand out to her. Clary didn't respond, she merely took his hand in agreement, feeling sparks as she did. The boy led her a little more into the crowd and placed his free hand on her back.

"My name is Jace by the way." He said, still smirking some as they dance to a waltz

"Clary, nice to meet you." Clary responded, finding her voice at last. She was still taken back by the effect this boy, Jace, was having on her.

They didn't say much after that, but they kept dancing. Clary couldn't tear her eyes away from Jace's golden ones as they danced, they were captivating. Her heart, which had been racing the first few dances, had finally slowed to a somewhat normal pace but her skin still tingled where he touched her, even through her dress where his hand rested on her back. After what seemed like an eternity and merely a few seconds all at the same time Jace pulled his hand away from her back and bowed slightly, keeping ahold of her hand. Before straitening himself he looked up at her and smiled, he then let go of her hand and started to walk away.

"Wait," Clary called after him. "Please, wait."

To her relief he stopped and turned his head back to look at her, Clary rushed back up to him and placed her hand lightly on his arm. "Yes." Jace responded with a questioning look in his eyes.

Clary opened her mouth to say something then closed it. She was about to try again to say something, but instead decided against it and grabbed Jace by his wrist and led him away from the mob of still dancing bodies towards a somewhat dark corner close to the gardens where a bench was located.

"Clary" Jace said in a somewhat hesitant voice, she turned around to look at him. "Take off your mask."

"Only if you do first," Clary responded, tilting her head a little to the side. This made Jace chuckle a little and the sound was like music to Clary's ears.

"Alright," He said as he lifted his mask off and placed it onto the bench. Clary had figured he would be very handsome and she was right, and by the gleam in Jace's eyes he knew it.

"Your turn." Jace said with a smirk when Clary didn't remove her mask once he had. Clary blushed a little at being caught staring at him and looked down.

Clary quickly removed her mask and looked back up at Jace. She was surprised the sound of his breath hitching a little and his eyes had grown a little darker. Jace to a step towards her, closing what little distance there had previously been between the two of them. He then ran his fingers gently down the hand that still had ahold of the mask; he then removed it from her grasp and placed it on the bench beside his.

"You're beautiful," Jace said as he pushed a curly strand of her red hair behind her ear, his fingers gently touching her cheek for a second as he did.

"I bet you tell that to all of the other girls your strike your fancy," Clary said regaining her thoughts.

Jace chuckled again at his and said, "No, I tend to use other adjectives for the others."

"I'm sure you…" Clary stopped mid-sentence as she heard her father's voice nearby.

"I have to go," She said as her father called her name, his voice sounding closer this time.

"Wait," Jace said, still holding her hand in his, "I want to see you again."

"Clarissa," Valentine called, his voice still getting closer.

"Jace," Clary said as she tried to pull away.

"Please."

Clary looked into his eyes and was surprised to see what she thought was a pleading look in them. With a sigh Clary nodded. "See that balcony up there," she said pointing up to her room, "tomorrow night after midnight stand in the shadows and throw pebbles up at it."

This seemed enough to please Jace because he nodded and let her hand go just as her father's voice sounded her name a few feet from her.

"Clarissa, there you are. Didn't you hear me calling your name?" Valentine said as Clary turned around to face him.

"I was just coming to find you." Clary said with a quick look over her shoulder only to find that Jace had already disappeared.

"Well come along, there is someone I want you to meet."

"Yes, Father." Clary said as she followed Valentine through the dense crowd. She wanted to get this night over, and tomorrow as well, so that she could see Jace again.


	2. Sneaking Around

**So here's the next chapter, finally. I'm sorry it took so long. Please tell me what you think.**

Clary was sitting at her desk, brushing her unruly red hair, as she waited for Jace. It had been two weeks since her birthday ball and Jace had been coming to meet her almost every night. A goofy smile spread on her lips as she thought about Jace, she had never felt this way about a boy before. She'd had a few crushes, but she'd never felt like this. Her skin burned where he touched her and her heart rate quickened at the sight of him, even time seemed to slow down when she was with him, though it was never enough. Clary sighed happily.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

The sound brought Clary out of her reverie. _Jace_. She thought as she stood up and walked out onto the balcony and looked over the railing.

"Hi," Jace said looking up at her, the moonlight shining in his golden locks.

"Hi," Clary smiled.

Jace took a couple steps back and looked up at the balcony with a calculating look. "What are you," Clary started to ask as he sprang from the ground, grabbed the top of the railing, and flipped himself over it and onto the balcony beside her, landing in a crouch.

Jace smiled at her wickedly. "That," he answered as he pulled her into his arms. Clary breathed in his sent, he smelled like sunshine and sweat.

"How did you do that," she asked as he let her go. Jace had been climbing up the wall with the help of a trellis, but it had been raining for a while, making it too slippery to climb. The trellis had also cracked a little under his wait before the rain and they didn't want to risk breaking it completely and then have to explain how to Clary's parents. So the last few nights Clary had been leaning over the railing and Jace had stayed on the ground.

Jace shrugged, "Don't quite know, I've always had heightened abilities."

"So you're like a Marvel hero and an X-Man," Clary said teasingly. Jace gave her a confused look. "You're amazing."

"Well, we already knew that," Jace said a bit cocky.

Clary couldn't help but laugh. It was another trait that Clary was surprised she loved. Usually Clary couldn't stand people who were full of themselves, but Jace was just, Jace.

"I wish we could see each other in the day light," Clary said wishfully.

"You must be kidding, do you know how many girls dream about sneaking around with me. Lots. And you have me all to yourself." Jace said with feigned shock.

"Jace."

"I know." Jace's voice had gotten very serious. "I wish we could didn't have to sneak around either. Why do we have to sneak around again?"

Clary sighed, because she knew her father had a list of suitable young men who came from good families and that he was probably trying narrow it down and plan an arrange marriage, and Clary highly doubted Jace was on that list.

"Because for some reason our fathers don't see eye to eye." She said a bit sadly.

"Oh, yes, _that's _why." Jace ran his ringers through his hair. "Maybe we could get our mothers to talk to them."

"Considering they haven't succeeded in that past I doubt they will succeed now." Clary said. "Maybe we could get them to talk it out. Figure out how to solve whatever problem they have with each other."

"Yeah, and then we'll ride off on magical unicorns."

Clary merely shook her head at his sarcastic remark.

"Any better plans" she said.

"Not at the moment, but I'll come up with something." He said as devilish gleam returning to his eyes as he once again pulled her closer. "I won't let them keep us apart." He said softly.

"Clarissa."

Clary and Jace jumped apart from each other at the sound of Valentine's voice as he opened the door to Clary's room. Clary gasped at the sight of her father, who by now had spotted Jace and red was creeping its way into his skin.

"What are _you_ doing here," Valentine said his voice venomous and dangerously calm.

"Sir," Jace said, still shocked.

"I want you out of my house this instant." Valentine's voice was a little louder.

"Father," Clary tried, but her father glared at her, cutting her off.

Valentine bounded across the room in powerful steps and grabbed Jace by the color before he could react and started to pull him away from Clary.

"Father, please." Clary tried again, but Valentine ignored her as he pushed Jace out of her room and made his way down the stairs with him.

"Sir," Jace said, his voice gaining some strength as they reached the first level.

"Don't you talk to me. I want you out of my house and I never want you to talk to my daughter ever again. I don't want you anywhere near her." Valentine said his calm fading into controlled rage as he glared at Jace.

Clary stopped half way down the stairs.

"But, sir," Jace tried again.

"No. My daughter is too good for you. Stay away. You will regret it if you don't." Valentine said, his voice getting more dangerous by the second. "Now get out of my house." He said as he let go of Jace and pushed him towards the door and walked away.

Clary had made it a few more steps before she had crumpled onto the steps and started to cry. "Jace," she said as he looked up at her. "Don't go." She whispered, tears still streaming down her face.

Jace looked behind him and then took her hand. "I don't care what he says, I will see you again."

Clary nodded and Jace kissed her hand and walked quickly to the door. Clary sat there a few second after the door had closed behind him. Forcing her tears back she stood up and went back up to her room and ran out onto her balcony. Clary caught the gleam of the moon off of his hair before he disappeared behind a row of trees.


	3. Unwelcomed Plans

Chapter 3

**Once again I am so sorry it took so long, I had meant to post this last Tuesday, sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy!**

It had been almost two weeks since Valentine had caught Jace with Clary on her balcony and banished him from the Morgenstern property. They had managed to sneak around some to see each other a few times, but it seemed like each time they tried it was trickier and trickier. The first time Jace had managed to sneak on the property long enough to through a rock with a message tied around it onto Clary's balcony, the paper had had a place and time to meet him. After that they made plans for the next time before they went their separate ways. It had been three days since the last time Clary had seen Jace, which had been in town when she had been sent to the market with her friend Simon Lewis. What really made Clary so anxious was the fact that they hadn't been able to set their next meeting and Clary had no way to get in contact with Jace and she had no idea how he would get in contact with her. Especially since Valentine had more guards around the place.

Clary was nervous as she made her way down the stairs. Jocelyn had come to her room an hour ago and told her that her father wanted to talk to her, she hadn't said why or what about. This made Clary's mind race as she replayed every meeting she had had with Jace, reliving every moment as she tried to think of anything that could have led to her father learning about her secret relationship with Jace.

Reaching the main floor, Clary smoothed the skirt of her light blue satin dress she wore, she had dressed up some hoping it would please her father in case he had indeed learned about Jace. She had even piled her unruly hair on top of her head. With a deep breath she walked towards the sitting room where the normally held company. As Clary neared the entrance she was surprised to hear another male voice besides her father's, Clary's uneasiness increased a little.

"Father," Clary said as she entered the room. Her father looked around the person her was talking to, a man who had his back to her, and looked at her with a pleased looked.

"Clarissa, dear, this is Sebastian Verlac," Valentine said almost enthusiastically as he put his hand on the guests shoulder and smiled. Clary's defenses went up immediately at her father's happy demeanor.

The man turned around after Valentine had introduced him and smiled at Clary. He had very pale blond hair, it was even lighter than Jace's golden hair, extremely dark eyes, almost an onyx color, and he had an athletic tall built. But he was a shadowhunter, so of course he was in good shape.

"Sebastian, this is my daughter, Clarissa." Valentine continued.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Clary said sweetly, not liking either of the men's smiles.

"The pleasure is all mine, Clarissa," Sebastian said stepping forward, grabbing her hand as he bowed, and kissing it gently. He then proceeded to look up with a smile before righting himself. Clary did not like this at all; she looked at her Valentine hoping for an explanation.

"The Verlacs and Morgensterns have been close to each other for generations. Sebastian here was just stopping by on his way home from the city. His parents have been kind enough to invite us to a ball at the end of the month." Valentine said. Clary didn't believe him at all, at least not the part about Sebastian stopping to invite them to a ball, that's why you hired a messenger.

"How lovely," Clary said with a smile, knowing it was expected of her.

"Yes, my father has been meaning to come over himself, but she has been very busy lately and he thought it would be nice if I stopped by on my way back home."

Clary refrained herself from snorting at Sebastian's continued explanation and kept the smile on her face.

"Well, I have a few errands I need to run," Valentine said cheerfully and Clary relaxed a little. "Why don't I leave you two to get better acquainted, I should be back soon."

Clary's relief disappeared and she snapped her head at her father as he left the room, still smiling. The shock was quickly replaced by anger, but Clary kept it in check and continued to smile.

"Your father had tea delivered right before you came, it should still be warm." Sebastian said as he walked over to a simple glass table was located by the bay windows, which were open to let in the cool breeze. He pulled out a chair for Clary and then took a seat across from her. Clary was almost surprise at how calm she had become as she poured Sebastian and herself a cup of tea from the delicate white China tea pot into blue painted China tea cups, along with the tea there was also a plate a finger sandwiches. Clary wanted to die. And kill her father.

Sebastian had his right elbow on the table and was leaning to the side a little with an amused look on his face, Clary wanted to slap it off of him. He then started up a conversation and Clary replied and kept her voice sweet and a smile on her face.

"Nice to see that you two are getting along so well." Clary jumped a little at the sound of her father's voice behind her. "Clarissa, would you please excuse us, I still have some business to talk about with young Sebastian here."

Clary nodded as Sebastian got up and followed Valentine outside through the bay doors into the garden that was located there. Silently, Clary stood up and followed them at a distance. Her father stopped at a part of the garden where there was a stone table with stone benches on both sides and took a seat, Sebastian followed suit. Clary bent over as she crept behind the bushes and stopped once she could hear what was being sat. Careful to not make a sound she crouched down so that she could stare through the branches and leaves of the bush.

"What do you think," Valentine said his voice a bit hopeful.

"I think she is a very lovely girl," Sebastian said, still wearing that infuriating smirk of his.

"Your father and I thought you would like her. It was such a shame you didn't get to be properly introduced to her at her birthday."

"It was fine; I did get to dance with her several times."

Clary was starting to tense at the conversation.

"So you agree then?" Valentine asked almost sounding hopeful.

"Yes, I agree. I am sure my father will be very pleased with the dowry we have agreed on."

"Yes, well, if he would like to discuss anything he is welcomed to come over or I would be willing to go over to your house."

"I'm sure he won't. My father respects you very much."

"Then it is all set. I will inform my wife and we will tell Clarissa the good news." Valentine said standing up and shaking hands with Sebastian, as if he had just settled a business deal.

"I'm glad you took the time to stop by."

"My parents thought it would be better to meet Clarissa before the ball. That way we would at least be acquainted with each other a little, especially since I am pretty sure my mother will turn it into an engagement celebration." Sebastian said with a smile.

"Knowing your mother, it is very likely. I'll go get the stable boy to saddle your horse back up." Valentine said as they started to walk back towards the patio and then towards the stables.

Clary collapsed onto the ground and leaned on a nearby tree. She couldn't believe what she had just overheard. For a few seconds she was shocked at the idea of her father, but that soon turned to rage that was just added to the anger that she had earlier kept pent up. How dare her father just marry her off to some random stranger, and discuss it as if she was a piece of land or livestock that was being bought. Once Clary could think more clearly she stood up and made her way back inside, she then sprinted towards her bedroom and through herself onto her bed.

It took her several minutes to notice the little parcel that was lying on her desk. Once she did she rushed over to it and her heart leaped, knowing that it had to be from Jace.

**I am sorry for any errors they have been in the chapters, I am trying to make sure that there aren't any, but sometimes I don't catch them in time. I promise I will post the next chapter soon. **

**P.S. I decided to have use Sebastian Verlac's name and Jonathan Morgenstern's identity to make a kind of Paris character. Hope you liked it!**


	4. Midnight Rondevu

Chapter 4

Clary was desperate to see Jace and time seemed to be passing slower than molasses. Even more so since her parents had announced to her at supper that she was indeed engaged to Sebastian Verlac. Clary had hoped her mother wouldn't agree with her father, but she had been wrong, her mother had smiled happily the entire meal. What made Clary even more upset was the fact that her wedding was already being planned and would be in a few months, it made her want to die.

Finally Clary couldn't wait any longer; she walked out onto her balcony and looked down. It wasn't that far of a drop and she was a shadowhunter. Sure she had never fought any demons because her father refused, but she had gone through all the necessary training. With a deep breath she threw one leg and then the other over the railing. She was very careful to hang onto the railing the entire time. She then grabbed the bars of the rail and let her feet dangle over the edge. Sliding her hands down she grabbed the edge of the balcony and braced herself. With another deep breath she let go and dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch as her feet hit the ground. Smiling, she quickly went to the part of the garden where she would meet Jace.

As she neared the meeting spot she paused, her heart feeling heavy. She had to tell him about her father's plans, but she didn't want to lose him. Not by her father's will or by Jace's own. Clary shook the thoughts from her head, she was just overthinking things. Tentatively she walked around the corner of the trees that surrounded one of her favorite spots of the garden. It was a little clearing in a way that was shaped like a circle. Located in the center was a small fountain, on the outer perimeter were benches and a couple lanterns, the floor hear was marble and not stone like the rest of the garden, and there were many different kinds of flowers that made a circle between the marble and trees that surrounded it.

She walked towards the fountain and looked around, not seeing anything but shadows of the garden from the moon. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and turned around. She caught a glimpse of golden hair before the figure stepped out of the shadows. Clary smiled and her heart leaped as she ran into his open arms.

"Clary," Jace said as her caught her and wrapped his arms around her.

When he let go she took a step back and looked up at him. "I missed you." She said looking him in the eye.

"I missed you too. I'm sorry it took me so long. Your father is making it harder and harder to get messages to you."

"I'm surprised he'd have time," Clary said a bit bitterly.

Jace looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Clary took another step back and looked down, wrapping her arms around herself. Jace said her name again, and she closed her eyes for a second. Not daring to look up she said, "My father has been looking for me a husband."

"Well, we knew that, everyone knew that. That was one of the reasons for the ball on your birthday, so that young men like me could have a chance to talk with you."

"He- he found one," Clary said softly, sadness overwhelming her even with Jace so near to her.

Clary heard a slight intake of breath and then silence. She just stood there looking at the ground as Jace continued not to speak, whishing he would. The longer the silence continued the more Clary's heart seemed to tighten as more and more doubts fealed her head. Jace still hadn't said anything and Clary was beginning to think that he would just give her up and move on, now that there seemed to be no way they could ever be together. The thought of him not caring enough to fight for her made her heart shatter and her throat feel tight. She was turning to bolt when a hand caught her wrist; she still didn't dare look up.

Clary felt Jace move closer to her and she squeezed her eyes close before opening them again at the feel of Jace's fingers under her chin, making her skin tingle. He pulled her chin up, forcing her to look at him. The moon lit up his hair and made it looked almost silver in the light and his eyes were a little darker than normal. Clary didn't dare speak, too afraid that she would start crying, or worse, he would leave.

"What," he said his voice barely a whisper. "What did you say?"

Jace had removed his hand from her chin and now had it rested on her shoulder. Clary just looked up at him, unable to speak at first, he almost looked lost.

"My father found me a husband." Clary said softly, her voice wavering only a little bit.

"What," Jace said looking as if someone had struck him, his eyes sad. "Who?"

"Sebastian Verlac, my father told me today. We are to be married soon."

"Verlac!" Jace said, his voice sounding almost heated his eyes ablaze and then they died as what she said fully hit him. "How soon?"

"I don't know, a few months."

Jace's breath caught for a second and he let go of her wrist and took a step back, Clary's heart clinched a little. Clary watched him as he stood there; he was looking everywhere but at her and his face had a pained expression on it.

"Jace," Clary said hesitantly, once again afraid he may leave her. His eyes snapped back at her and his expression changed a little.

"Clary," he said gently as he stepped back towards her and placed his hand gently on her cheek, as he did some of Clary's fears subsided. "Oh, Clary."

"What are we going to do, Jace?" Clary said as she finally started to break. "They want me to be with him and even the servants are saying how we will make such a lovely couple, but all I want is you." She looked him with desperate eyes. "All I want is you."

"I could always get rid of him," Jace said trying to sound lighthearted. Clary just looked at him. "Or I could ruin his reputation. Then your parents wouldn't want you to marry him." He said, sounding almost thoughtful.

"You're ridiculous." Clary said as tears streamed down her face. Jace wiped them away with his thumbs.

"Perhaps." He said a bit solemnly.

"We could just run away." Clary said suddenly.

Jace just looked at her in surprise. "No, we couldn't."

"Yes, we could. I could meet you one night and we could ride off somewhere they wouldn't find us. We could get married and live together." The idea excited Clary a little, being with Jace without having to sneak around.

"What are you saying," Jace asked a bit shocked.

"Take me somewhere, anywhere, even tonight. I could meet you again in a couple hours and we would be long gone before anyone noticed I was missing." Clary was almost desperate. Why didn't he agree? Why didn't he want to be with her?

"They would find you." Jace said shaking his head.

"No, they wouldn't. We could go very far away."

"Clary, wouldn't you miss your family? Your friends? I can't do that. Besides, it wouldn't be the honorable thing to do."

Clary suddenly stepped away from him as rage started to well up inside her. Why wouldn't he just agree? Didn't he understand it was the only way?

"Why not," Clary said, her anger slipping through her control and into her voice.

"Clary," Jace said softly.

"No, Jace, why not? Don't you want to be with me? Don't you love me?" Clary said loudly, not caring that she had basically just declared her love for him, even though he had never told her he had loved her. She had been so sure he had loved her, but now she wasn't so sure. Perhaps she was just another pretty face to him, just another girl, like a flower was just another flower.

"Clary," Jace said a bit roughly as he grabbed her again.

"No." Clary pushed him away from her and looked at him with disdain.

"I can't take you away from your family, Clary. I can't."

"You'd watch me marry another man? Because that is what's going to happen. My father has been planning it for years and he always gets his way, always."

"We still have time," Jace said.

"No we don't, Jace. We don't have time. My father isn't going to just change his mind. He never does."

"Clary-"

"Just forget, Jace. Everyone said you weren't any good, everyone said you went around breaking all of the girl's hearts, and I didn't believe them. Well they were right. So you can just sit back and watch me marry Sebastian Verlac because my father isn't going to change his mind and you aren't going to save me like I thought you would." Clary said, not caring that her words were making him cringe and that his face had gone a little pale. She turned to walk away, her heart beating quickly. She needed to get away before her rage disappeared and she was overwhelmed with sadness and pain.

She didn't get very far before she felt her skin tingle as Jace grabbed her and spun her around. Before she could protest he had his lips on hers and was kissing her as if his life depended on it. Clary felt her anger diminish and new hope flutter inside her heart. After what seemed like forever and not nearly long enough Jace pulled away.

"I love you, Clarissa Morgenstern, so don't you dare tell me otherwise." He said heatedly.

"Then will you-"

"No, I will find another way." Jace said, and Clary felt all of her hope vanish.

"Then you had better be prepared to live the rest of your life without me, because there is no other way. Either take me away with you or watch me marry Sebastian." Clary said, calmly as she looked up at him.

She could see the battle that raged within him, could see him contemplating her words. Clary grew a tad bit hopeful when she saw his eyes harden as he made up his mind.

"I can't run away with you. I will find another way for us to be together."

Clary felt her hope fade rapidly and her heart fully shatter. "Then we can never be together." She said and turned away from him and ran back towards her house, not daring to look behind her even once. She didn't know what she would do if he was following after her and she didn't know how she would keep living if he wasn't. Clary scrambled her way up the terrace, careful not to stup on the broken step, and pulled herself back onto her balcony. Once her feet where safely on the ground she sunk to the floor and cried as the pain of her losing Jace finally grabbed ahold of her with unforgiving claws.


	5. Unexpected Guest

Chapter 5

It had been almost three weeks since Clary had said goodbye to Jace and her heart still ached at the loss. Much to Clary's surprise, she was glad that she spent her days planning her wedding; it kept her mind off of the boy she could never have.

"Ouch," Clary said as a pin pricked her a little.

"Sorry," the seamstress that had poked her said, cheeks a little flushed.

Clary was currently getting fitted for the gown she would wear to her engagement party at the end of the week. The dress was done for the most part; it just needed a few minor adjustments here and there, like the hem taken up a little and her waist brought in a little as well. The dress a made of a silky material and was a light shade of blue, the sleeves hung off her shoulders, the bodice of the dress hugged her skin until it reached her hips and then it flared out.

Clary was surprised that she secretly hoped Sebastian was pleased with the dress. He been a guest in her house a several times since it was decided that they would marry and Clary was surprise to find herself eager for the next time he decided to visit. Much to her father's pleasure they had been spending a lot of time together, getting to know each other better. Last week Clary had realized she was actually found of Sebastian. He was easy to talk to and fairly laid back. When Sebastian was over they would talk about books and music, go on long horse rides or walks through the garden, and he knew how to play the piano and violin and would accompany Clary sometimes when she practiced. He also brought her gifts every time he came to see her and talk to her father. So far he had brought her a paint set with delicate brushes, three books, a silver locket, a gold chain bracelet, and a beautifully crafted wooden jewelry box he had made himself.

"Clary," a voice said and Clary was brought out of her thoughts. She hadn't noticed that seamstresses were packing up to go. Clary looked up to see her mother standing in the door way, a smile on her face.

"Yes," Clary said, curious as of to what had made her mother so happy.

"There is someone to see you in the library. I suggest you go there right away."

Clary's first thought was that it was Sebastian and she looked down at the simple pale green dress she had on, one that had ink and paint stains and one little patch near the hem where she had gotten too close to the fire the past winter.

"But," Clary said as she looked back up at her mother.

Seeming to know what Clary was about to say her mother interrupted and said, "Don't worry; what you are wearing is just fine. Go ahead."

Clary nodded and left the room. She hoped it wasn't Sebastian; she didn't want him to see her in the dress she wore when she was working in the garden or painting. Stopping with her hands on the handle to the library door she took a deep breath and pushed the door open. For a minor second she was almost disappointed when she saw the man sitting with his back to her had brown hair and not a pale golden shade of blonde. Hearing her enter the man stood up and turned around to smile at her and Clary's disappointment was instantly replaced by excitement.

"Luke," Clary said happily as she ran into his open arms. As she did he caught her, spun her around once, and sat her back on the ground. Luke was her father's parabatai and Clary thought of him as an uncle. He lived close by and growing up Clary could remember him spending a lot of his time here, and it seemed like when he wasn't at the Morgenstern house they were at his estate. Some of Clary's favorite memories took place at a manor house he had by a lake a day's journey from here where she had spent almost all of her summers until recently. Luke had been gone almost half a year working for the Clave and the last time Clary had seen him was Christmas, this was the longest she had gone without seeing him.

"Clary," Luke said with a smile stepping back to look at her and taking her hands in his own. "I do believe you've grown some."

"I haven't grown since I turned fourteen," Clary said.

"Then you've grown up some, matured more. You are quite the young lady now." Luke said. Clary rolled her eyes playfully at his compliment.

"When did you get back," Clary asked excited.

"Yesterday, I came here as soon as I was up this morning. Your father caught me as I was riding through the gate and greeted me instantly. He hogged me to himself until your mother found us. He left just a while ago to see to something."

"I'm glad you're back."

"Me too, I am sorry I missed your birthday." He said, disappointment showing in his eyes for a second.

"It's alright, you couldn't help it."

Luke smiled at her and walked over to the library desk. "I did get you a present," he said as he presented a box from under the desk. It wasn't very big and was wrapped in silver paper with a red bow.

Clary took it in her hands and removed the shiny paper, uncovering a box. She then opened the box and tilted it to empty its contents into her hand. A cold piece of adamas touched her skin and Clary felt her eyes widen and lips tilt up at the corner of her mouth. The object was silver and no longer than her hand.

"I love it," she said looking up at Luke, who had a very pleased look on his face.

"I'm glad you do, I thought it was time you have your own stele. Especially now that you are sixteen and betrothed."

Clary blushed a little at looks words and then suddenly the smile started to slip away, but Clary was quick to replace it not wanting Luke to notice.

"What's wrong," Luke said a little concerned, he knew her to well.

"It's just that I don't know Sebastian very well, and my father didn't even give me the choice on who I would marry." Clary said slowly, not completely sure she should be telling Luke this.

"I see," Luke said nodding his head, his eyes getting a bit more serious. "Do you not like Verlac boy?"

"No, he's nice and we get along just fine, I just wish I could marry who I chose. Or at least have been given the option of not agreeing with my father's choice."

Luke gave Clary a sympathetic look before speaking. "You said you liked the Verlac boy?" Clary nodded. "Then perhaps you will fall in love with him in time."

"Perhaps," Clary said, thinking about how she had been excited at the idea of Sebastian coming to visit her. Luke could be right, just because she didn't love him at the moment didn't mean she wouldn't love him in the future. They had grown quite fond of each other lately.

Clary looked up and smiled, "Want to go for a ride?"

"I was waiting for you to ask," Luke said with a smile as he offered her his arm and led her out of the library.

**As you can tell Luke is still a shadowhunter and was never bitten by a werewolf. Valentine and Luke are still best friends and see each other as brothers. Hope you liked it and sorry it was so short. Promise to post the next chapter as soon as possible.**


	6. Moving On

Chapter 6

**So, when I was writing this chapter I was done with the first little section and my computer crashed and I was stupid and didn't think to save it while I was typing like I normally do. Therefore I'm not completely please with it because I think it could have been a lot better, but I did try to get it as close as I could to the original. Hope you like it.**

Clary was sitting at her desk looking at the stele she held delicately in her hands. It was so beautiful and it was all hers. She would never be able to thank Luke enough for the gift. Turning it over in her hand Clary hoped see would get the chance to use it since her father was so overprotective of her.

_Besides the wedding ceremony anyways. _Clary thought to herself as she sat the stele down on her desk and got up to finish packing. Tomorrow morning she would be leaving with her parents to go to the Verlac's estate to visit for a few days. The ball would also be the evening after and Clary was glad that the trip would only be a few hours.

Clary was careful as she packed her new gown for the ball last into her travel bag. Hoping, once again, that Sebastian would approve of it. The thought no longer surprised Clary. She had realized a while ago that she had grown use to the idea of her being betrothed to Sebastian and that she no longer resented the idea. Over the weeks that had passed since the announcement Clary had slowly grown quite fond of Sebastian and looked forward to the next time she would see him.

She no longer despised his very being and she had to admit he was quite handsome with his pale hair and dark eyes; even his build was pleasurable to the eyes. Clary smiled at the thought of him again and she stood and put her bag by the door. Walking out onto the balcony Clary breathed in the late summer air, it would soon be autumn. Looking at the trellis, still slightly cracked, Clary felt her stomach tighten slightly but ignored the feeling. She hadn't thought about Jace for a while now and she wasn't about to let herself now, knowing it would only ruin her happy mood. With a finally deep breath Clary went back into her room, closed the balcony door, and went to bed. Clary lay awake for a while before sleep finally claimed her.

Clary was glad that the ride to the Verlac's went by quickly, though that was partly due to the fact that she had finished reading one of the books Sebastian had given her. She couldn't wait to discuss it with him when she had the chance. They had arrived before noon and Sebastian had been off running errands with his father. Currently Clary was trying to do something to tame her wild mass of curls and was having no luck what so ever.

With a sigh Clary set the brush down just as her mother nocked and opened her door.

"Want some help," Jocelyn asked with a slight smile as she walked over to her daughter.

Clary smiled and said, "Yes, please."

Jocelyn picked up the brush and ran it through Clary's hair a few times and then put it up into a not on top of Clary's head, leaving a few strand down.

"Thanks," Clary said looking up at her mother. Jocelyn smiled, her hand resting on Clary's shoulder.

There was another knock and Clary turned around to see her father standing in the open doorway, her mother must have left the door open. "You look lovely," Valentine said with a pleased look in his face. "Sebastian is downstairs; he's waiting to have tea with you."

Clary nodded and stood up quickly. As she started to walk past her father he grabbed her elbow and Clary looked up at him. Valentine had a somewhat intense look on his face and before he could say anything Clary got on her tip toes, kiss him on the cheek and continued on her way as his grip loosened. She heard him say something to her mother, but she was too far away now to make out the words.

Once down stairs, Clary made her way to the sunroom, remembering Sebastian saying that was one of his favorite rooms in the house. Hesitating a little bit, Clary walked into the sunroom and felt relieved that she had been right when she saw his pale blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight as he stood by a bay window door with his back to her.

"Sebastian," Clary said, smoothing her skirts a little and smiling.

Sebastian turned around and smiled back. His dark eyes seemed to lighten a little as he looked me up and down.

"You look very lovely," He said as he walked towards her. Clary's smile grew at the compliment and her cheeks flushed a little. When Sebastian reached her he took her hand and bent down to kiss it gently. Looking up he smiled at her almost mischievously and Clary's cheeks reddened even more.

"I missed you," Sebastian said standing up and looking pleased with himself.

"I missed you too," Clary said a bit quietly. She would have written off his air as being arrogant, but really it was just who he was.

"So, would you like to sit down? I had tea and cookies served." Sebastian said, offering her his arm. Clary allowed him to escort her to the table and smiled as he pulled her chair out for her before taking his own across from her. Clary poured her and Sebastian a cup of tea and kept looking down even after she had set the tea pot down.

"You seem nervous," Sebastian said and Clary looked up to see he had his head tilted to the side as he looked at her.

"I suppose I am anxious for tomorrow." Clary responded and Sebastian nodded in understanding.

"It's not until tomorrow, for now let's just relax."

"You're right, of course," Clary relaxed.

"Good."

Clary took a sip of her tea. "Do you suppose we could go for a walk after this? I would love to see the grounds." Clary said, a little tentatively.

Sebastian laughed, Clary liked the sound of it, "Of course," he said. "You needn't sound so shy. Would you like to go now, there is much to see and I'm not sure we will have enough daylight." Clary nodded and Sebastian took her hand as the left the room.

They explored the stables first, then a small garden to the left of the house, a small green house, and were now walking through a much larger garden in the back of the house that reminded Clary of the one in her back yard. At the moment they were walking by a little stream that went through the garden and her eyes caught a little bridge that went over the stream and on the other side was a tunnel like path and Clary could just make out what looked like a fountain.

Forgetting herself she started walking right towards it, dragging Sebastian along with her. Behind her she heard Sebastian chuckle as she started to walk faster. The crossed the bridge and Clary continued on her beeline. On closer examination Clary could see that the tunnel was made of several arched trellises and vines with delicate pink flowers covered the. The tunnel was only about ten feet long; once they exited it Clary saw that it opened up into a small rectangular opening that was enclosed by tall hedges. In the center was a three layered fountain in the middle of a shallow pool of water. There were several rose bushes and many different kinds of flowers that surrounded the area. What caught Clary's attention was the wooden garden swing that was to the right of the tunnel's opening. Clary glanced back at Sebastian for a second and then made her way towards it, still pulling him behind her.

"It's so beautiful here," Clary said as she sat down and Sebastian sat down beside her.

Sebastian laughed a little before saying, "I'm glad you like it, I was hoping you would notice this place."

Clary looked at him. "How come?" she asked hopefully.

"Because this is my favorite place in that garden. It's a very peaceful place to come and read on a nice sunny day, or just to think."

Sebastian put his arm around Clary and she leaned into him a little. "I didn't peg you as a garden person," She said looking up at him.

"I also like puppies, long walks in the moonlight, and gossiping shamelessly." Sebastian said in a perfectly serious tone of voice.

Clary feigned a look of shock. "Your father must be so proud of having such a manly son," Clary replied in an equally serious tone.

"Oh he is indeed. He wishes to open his own Institute and have me be a teacher. Says I'll be a perfect inspiration to other young Shadowhunters." Sebastian said still serious, his lip twitching a little.

Clary couldn't help but laugh and Sebastian was soon to follow. By the time she stopped laughing, Clary's sides and stomach ached.

"I'm glad you like this place." Sebastian said softly, looking into her eyes. Once again his dark eyes seemed to be a shade lighter, a little less black.

Clary smiled up at him happily. She realized briefly she had been smiling a lot lately; especially since she had come down to see him. The thought didn't last long in her mind though because as she had been thinking this she had looked down for a second, now looking back up she was surprised to see that Sebastian had brought his head closer to her. Clary's heart rate picked up a little at his face being only inches from hers.

"You are beautiful." Sebastian said his breath hot against my skin and his voice a little husky. His eyes darted all over my face and when they finally met my gaze again she could tell he was contemplating something. Suddenly Sebastian's fingers were running down the side of her face lightly and her breath hitched a little.

Clary heard him mutter something under his breath and then his lips were on hers, at first Clary froze in shock, but then she found she was kissing him back. His kisses were gentle at first, then hungry, and then gentle again. When they broke away they were both breathless and Clary found herself blushing profusely. Clary looked at Sebastian and saw that he looked stunned, but as her cheeks got redder he started to look less stunned and his lips twitched up into one of his irritating smirks. Clary turned her head away and looked down at her hands.

She heard Sebastian call her name softly, so softly that she thought at first that she thought she was hearing things, until she felt his fingers under her chin. He turned her head gently and she continued to look down at her lap. She suddenly felt mad, both at herself and at Sebastian.

"Clary, look at me." Sebastian said, almost pleadingly. This startled Clary enough that she did indeed look up at him. His face had softened and his eyes held a look of worry.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Sebastian said, with a week smile.

Clary couldn't stay mad at him. "It's alright," she said very quietly.

"Perhaps we should head back to the house, I'm sure it will be time to eat soon." Sebastian looked a little relieved.

"Perhaps we should."

Sebastian nodded and stood up, offering Clary his hand as he did. Clary took it and let him lead her back through the garden towards the house.

"Sebastian," Clary said a little hesitantly.

Sebastian looked at her quickly. "Yes."

"Thank you for showing me the garden." Clary kept her eyes on his, hoping he would understand what she really meant but was too embarrassed to actually say out loud. Sebastian's eyes widened a little and his lips twitched up a little.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it."

With that they continued on their way.

**Hope you liked it. Also hope you feel loved because I have been working very diligently on this story and Curse of Immortality (well maybe not so diligently on that one) when I should be finishing my own original story. Let me know your opinions, they are greatly appreciated.**


	7. Derailed

Chapter 7

**So I know some of you are questioning the fact of rather or not this is a ClaryXJace story, and it is. You just have to go with the flow and trust me. **

Clary was in a garden walking on its maze like path, she wasn't sure whose garden it was, but at the moment it didn't matter. It was a beautiful day and the birds were singing in a nearby tree. Clary felt at ease. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around her and Clary tensed for a second and then relaxed as the owner of her arms said her name softly, his lips close to her ear. Clary turned around and smiled up at Sebastian, his pale hair almost white in the sunlight. He was dressed in Shadowhunter black and looked devilishly handsome.

"Where have you been?" Clary asked.

"Conquering the world." Sebastian's eyes gleamed a little and Clary felt unease sweep through her, but she was quick to push it away.

"Any luck?"

"Lots, but to be king of it all I need a queen." Sebastian's smile turned into more of a smirk and something in his voice alarmed Clary a little, but she ignored it once more. Feeling brave she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, moving so quickly he stood frozen in surprise. The surprise hardly lasted a second because he was soon returning her hungry kisses.

Clary pulled away and as she did she heard her name called from behind her and froze. Her breath hitched a little in her throat and her heart started to harmer hard inside her chest. Without knowing how, Clary turned to look behind her and saw Jace. He, like Sebastian, was also dressed in Shadowhunter black, only unlike Sebastian he was smeared with dirt and blood and his hair was plastered to his face and neck a little from sweat. Clary could also see that he had a gash on his left arm. Concern flooded Clary at the sight of him being injured. Finally she looked at his face and her heart skipped a beat. He was looking at her with such a pained expression, his eyes full of a mixture of longing, pain, and betrayal.

"Jace," Clary said softly and turned to look at Sebastian in alarm, but he was no longer there and Clary turned back to look at the boy with golden eyes.

Jace took a few long strides and stopped in front of her, his golden eyes a little darker than normal. "I missed you," he said as his finger brushed against her cheek, and the pain in his voice, the sadness, made Clary's heart clinch a little.

Clary brought her own hand up and rested it against the one touching her cheek. Suddenly, Clary's chest tightened and she felt as if her heart might shatter into a billion little pieces. "I missed you, too," she said her voice wavering a little.

"I'm sorry," Jace said looking down at her with such longing.

Clary didn't get the chance to respond because before she could even think of something to say his lips were crashing onto hers. Immediately, Clary allowed herself to melt into Jace and the kiss. His lips tasted like the sweat and blood he was covered in, but Clary didn't care. After what felt like an eternity and barely a second they broke away from each other, breathing deeply, but not actually letting go of the other.

Clary's skin tingled where Jace touched her and she felt a warmth deep down inside, in the very back of her mind Clary realized that this felt right, that this was what it was supposed to be like when you cared for someone, loved them even. Before the thought could actually reach the front of her mind Clary was yanked out of Jace's arms.

Startled, Clary looked up to see Sebastian on her right, his hand gripping just above her elbow. His face was hard and his eyes seemed almost completely black. What shocked her even more was the dangerous gleam his eyes had. Clary looked back at Jace and saw he had stiffened. His body tense and his eyes a little weary.

"Clarissa is mine," Sebastian said as he looked at Jace, his voice venomous and very hard sounding. "She is mine, not yours. She will never be yours for she has always belonged to me and she always will."

Clary saw Jace's face whiten a little and then redden with rage. "Don't talk about her like that." Jace said his breathing uneasy. "And if I was you I wouldn't get too confident."

Sebastian sneered at him and Clary was unnerved as she noticed that his eyes were completely black now, with not even the slightest hint of white. Suddenly Clary's blood turned cold and her breathing quickened a little.

"Clary," Jace said reaching out for her, but Sebastian pulled her behind him and out of Jace's reach.

Enraged, Jace made a move at Sebastian and pulled out a seraph blade. Before Jace had even made a move Sebastian had drown his own seraph blade and had disarmed Jace of his.

Sebastian laughed. "Like taking candy from a baby," he said cynically. Jace looked at him with eyes full of hate.

Clary saw Sebastian's face change a little and tried to call out a warning for Jace, but before she could even get the words out of her mouth Sebastian had run his sword through Jace and pulled it out. Jace looked down at the wound in surprise and then his eyes looked past Sebastian to Clary. Wide eyed, Clary ran towards him as he sank to his knees, her chest tightening. But before Clary could reach him Sebastian once again grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her away.

Reaching out towards him, Jace fell onto his side, his breathing ragged. Clary felt tears whelm up in her eyes. To her side, she heard Sebastian start to laugh, not the laugh that sounded like music to Clary's ears but a dark, cynical laugh that made Clary feel sick. Looking up Clary was appalled at the man that stood beside her, this wasn't the Sebastian she knew, it was a much darker one who took pleasure in bringing pain to others. She looked back at Jace and felt the tears start to run down her face.

"I love you," Jace said in a very faint voice with ragged breaths. Clary tried to reach out for him, but Sebastian kept her out of his reach and started to pull her away from him altogether.

"Jace," Clary said faintly.

"I... have... always... loved...you" She heard him say, struggling to get the words out before his eyes dulled. Clary's heart stopped and she felt like she might die looking at Jace's lifeless form.

Clary began to scream and suddenly she was sitting in her bed with her eyes wide open. She was breathing heavily and her body was covered in sweat. That sick feeling still had ahold of her heart and Clary could taste salt on her lips from the tears she didn't know she was shedding. _Jace._ The name rang throughout her, in her head and in her very being. _Jace._ Once again Clary thought her heart might shatter at the thought of the boy with golden hair and golden eyes. Laying back down Clary felt relief flood through her as she realized it had all been a dream, a horrific dream, and that Jace was safe and sound and very much alive at his own home. The relief was soon replaced by despair as once again Clary mourned that she would never be able to be with him. Never again be able to feel her skin tingle as where he touched her. Never again feel his warm breath against her neck, hear his laugh, see his smile, or even look into those beautiful golden eyes that would darken and blaze like a fire at the sight of her.

Clary's head swam with thoughts and her heart ached for the boy she couldn't have. Finally she fell asleep, her head resting on a tear soaked pillow.

**Hope this satisfied your hunger to see Jace again. **


	8. Troubled Heart

Chapter 8

**Sorry for the long wait. I just started school after Labor Day so I may not be able to update the story as often, but I will try my hardest to not take longer than a week if I can help it. **

Clary was almost ready to go downstairs and it was almost like having déjà vu, the main difference being that she was in her new pale blue ball gown and not her golden dress. Clary also wouldn't be expected to socialize and dance with every young suitor that asked her, since this was to be in honor of her engagement to Sebastian. The thought made her heart beat a little faster, she still hadn't been able to shake off the dream she had had the night before. All day she had been trying to forget it and had avoided Sebastian to the best of her ability. This wasn't too hard since he had been busy most of the day.

"The color suits you."

Clary turned around to see Sebastian standing in the doorway. She had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to hear him open the door. Then again, Clary probably wouldn't have heard him anyways, Sebastian could move as quiet and stealthy as a tiger.

"I'm glad you like it." Clary said with a smile. Sebastian had on a black suit with a dark blue vest that made his pale hair seem even more white than blond.

"Father sent me to retrieve you; he wants us to great the guests as they arrived."

Clary nodded and walked over to Sebastian, who held out his arm for her to take. The then made their way down stairs and to the ball room that connected to a pavilion outside between the house and the garden.

There were already a few early comers who were talking to either Clary's parents or Sebastian's. For what seemed like the hours Clary stood by Sebastian's side close to the door and greeted guests as they arrived. She also had to keep the same pleased look on her face even through the boring small talk that was expected of her. The moment it was no longer necessary of her to stand there she excused herself and made her way over to a table of refreshments. Once there she poured herself a glass of punch and scanned the room. To her surprise she found her friend Simon and made her way to him.

"Simon!" Clary said as she threw her arms around him, careful not to spill the last little bit of her punch on him.

"I'm surprised you have time for me, what with your new important duties of being an arm ornament for Verlac."

"Simon," Clary said chastising him a little.

Simon shrugged. "I'm just saying."

"It's not like that. It's just important that tonight goes well. Besides, Sebastian has a lot of pressure on him from his father right now." Clary said. Which was true for the most part, Sebastian had indeed seemed stressed while she was with him, but she didn't really know why.

"Fine. I'm just glad you made time to come see me. I wasn't for sure if you would even be able to find me with so many people here, let alone even know I was here."

"Like I would ever purposefully not make time for you."

"Hey, you never know. I haven't seen you for so long that for all I knew your father could have forbidden you to see me."

Clary's heart faltered a little at Simon's statement, the words hitting her like a brick wall. Careful not to change her expression, Clary forced a laugh and shook her head at her friend.

"Yeah, right. My parents like you. Besides I'm pretty sure they only time they would care was if you wanted to marry me." She teased as she tried to push away the image of golden eyes.

Simon stiffened a little but he quickly relaxed again. "Wouldn't want a scandal now would we?"

"Although the thought of frightening my father is amusing." Clary smirked a little.

"Ha, for you maybe. Me he would…."

"There you are. It's time for the announcement." Sebastian's voice said from behind her. Clary spun and saw that he was smiling at her.

"Sebastian." Simon said with a nod of his head, surprising Clary by how polite he sounded.

"Lewis." Sebastian said eyeing Simon a little. "Come on Clary, our parents will be distressed." He said as he grabbed Clary's hand and pulled her through the throng of people, away from her friend.

She looked back and saw that Simon's eyes seamed to gleam a little and he looked a little dismayed, or irritated. Clary couldn't decide which, if not both. With a silent sigh she turned her head back around.

They approached the front of the room where both her parents and Sebastian's parents stood waiting. Clary saw that her father looked a bit stiff. _He's not happy,_ Clary thought.

"Finally." Clary heard one of the parent's say, not paying close enough attention to know which one as her stomach all of a sudden started to churn a little.

Clary heard a voice, most likely Mr. Verlac, call for the attention of the room. Everyone became so silent; she could have heard a pin drop, perhaps even one of the grapes that were on the refreshment table. Sebastian squeezed her hand and Clary look up at him, her heart now beating a bit faster than normal as her stomach continued to do flip flops within her body.

_This is it. After this it's official that Sebastian and I are betrothed and there's no going back. Not that there was before… _Clary thought, suddenly she wasn't sure she wanted to marry Sebastian. Yes, they shared common interests and he was easy to talk to. He was also quite handsome and would easily be able to provide for her. Clary couldn't deny she was attracted to him and she was pretty sure she was falling in love with him. And just because she wasn't completely heads over heels in love with him didn't mean she wouldn't one day feel that way about him. There was no reason for Clary to be rethinking any of it. Suddenly the dream flashed back through Clary's head and she had to keep herself from cringing at the memory. Clary pushed the dream to the back of her mind, frustrated with herself. A dream was exactly that, a dream. It didn't mean anything. There really wasn't a reason to all of a sudden get cold feet.

_Except there's Jace. _She thought without even really meaning too and her heart throbbed a little at the thought. Not only of the name but of the image that ran through her mind as she did, of the fierce, golden haired, and golden eyed boy who she had fallen in love with.

_NO! _Clary thought, not allowing herself to go back down that mental road of pain. Jace was the one who had decided to give up on them. He was the one who hadn't fought for her. If he didn't want her that much then he didn't deserve her. Besides, he had probably already found another girl to court.

"…announce the betrothal of my son, Sebastian, to Miss Clarissa Morgenstern."

Clary was forced back into the real world as Sebastian started to pull her towards where his father was, who had just finished a speech that Clary had not heard except for the last few words. As Sebastian came to a stop next to his father and put his arm around Clary's waist Clary could hear the applause in the room, along with the sounds of approval and gasps of surprise.

Clary smiled and looked around at the faced that were beaming up at her and Sebastian and froze as her eyes caught a familiar figure on the outskirts of the crowd. Her heart stopped at the sight of the figure, dressed in all black and eyes a little darker than normal.

_Jace._

**Sorry it's not much and it took forever to post it. I'll try my hardest to post another chapter before Monday. **


	9. Future Regret?

Chapter 9

**Sorry I didn't get it posted before Monday like I said I would, but internet was down Sunday. Hope you like it; let me know your opinions.**

Clary was proud of herself for keeping her shock off of her face as she stood frozen in her place. _Why is _he_ here? What is he going to do? Will my father notice him? Is he going to confront Sebastian? _The thoughts stormed Clary's mind as she barely managed to keep the panic whelming up inside of her in check.

She was a little startled when Sebastian pulled her in to kiss her on her cheek. Clary felt her cheeks redden as he did and forced her eyes away from Jace and to Sebastian. The surprise vanished as her eyes met his and a slight shiver went down her spine. Sebastian's eyes seemed almost completely black for a second and in that second they seemed cold and calculating. Clary blinked and when her eyes opened Sebastian's eyes were normal and held nothing but adoration in them as they looked down at her. Deciding she had imagined it, Clary pushed it to the back of her mind but even as she did a slight nagging feeling stayed there. This was also dutifully ignored.

Sebastian pulled Clary out onto the floor where the room full of guests were slowly moving out of the way to form a circle. Music started and Sebastian pulled her close and started to dance, Clary followed his lead.

"Everything alright?" Sebastian whispered softly as he leaned his lips down to her ear. At first Clary was surprised that he had noticed, but then she felt stupid for the thought. Of course he would notice, he knew her well enough by now to know when something was up.

"Not really. It's just finally sinking in that we are going to be married." Clary responded. It wasn't a lie, it really had taken her off guard a little, it just wasn't why she was distracted right at that moment.

Sebastian nodded at this and smiled, "Not getting cold feet already are you?"

"No. Besides I thought it was the men who usually got cold feet." Clary teased, relaxing a little and putting her full focus on Sebastian. He smiled at her response, causing her heart to skip a little.

"Glad to hear it, and point taken."

The continued to dance and eventually others joined them and Sebastian was weaving them in and out of people. He really was a good dancer.

After a while Clary got up the courage to ask, "Why do you want to marry me?"

Sebastian looked taken aback for a second and then one of his smug smiles spread across his face. "What do you mean?"

Clary frowned a little, he was teasing her. "I mean why me when you could marry any girl you want to."

Sebastian's face and tone of voice went serious. "Why wouldn't I want to marry you? You are exactly what I've been looking for, everything about you fascinates me."

"Oh," was all Clary said looking down. She could feel Sebastian looking down at her but she didn't dare look back up.

"Clarissa," Sebastian said softly. "Clary," he tried again when Clary didn't look up at him.

Surprised that Sebastian had used her nickname, Clary looked up and saw that his eyes held some strange emotion she couldn't put her finger on. The wind blew Clary's hair a little, causing her to realize that he had led them outside.

"Clary, why do you doubt yourself?"

Clary was confused at the question and didn't respond.

Somehow sensing her confusing, Sebastian sighed and pulled her closer to him, so close in fact that her body was against his and there was no space in between.

"Sebastian," Clary said a little breathily, her heart beating fast at being so close to him.

"You are so beautiful and it almost seems like you don't even know it. Every time I see you my breath is stolen from me. I love how when you smile it lights up your whole face and how your laugh sounds like music. I even like your quick wit. You are so captivating." Sebastian said as he stroked his fingers lightly down Clary's jawline. Then before she had the chance to respond, or even think of a response, he was kissing her.

As soon as it started it stopped it seemed, leaving Clary wanting more and unsatisfied. She was looking up at Sebastian and his eyes were looking at her with a hungry look that made her blush a little. Heart still beating fast, Clary heard someone clear their throat and looked behind her.

She could feel Sebastian tense a little and she realized why once her eyes focused on the figure in the shadows. It was Jace, standing there with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. The smirk didn't reach his eyes at first though, for a while they held an immense sadness, but after a while it was replaced with an emotionless barrier.

"What do you want?" Sebastian asked in a cold tone. Clary looked back at him and saw his eyes flash with fury and menace, before settling to suspicious.

"Maybe your two should get a room, Verlac." Jace said a little smugly as he ignored the question.

"Maybe you should mind your own business."

"Perhaps, but I'm just so intrigued to know why Clary would want to be with you."

Clary's heart stopped for a second. "Sebastian, let's go." She whispered softly.

He ignored her. "Why? Jealous? Not like you would ever have a chance with her anyways even if we weren't engaged."

Clary almost choked. Sebastian hit the nail right on the head, because she knew that Jace was indeed jealous. Or at least she thought he was. Looking back at Jace, Clary saw that his expression was still a bit smug and that his eyes weren't giving him away. A little bit of disappointment flooded through Clary.

"Now why would I be jealous of someone like _you_," Jace said, clearly meaning it as an insult.

Sebastian's eyes gleamed with anger as he took a step forward. "Sebastian, don't." Clary said stepping in front of him and putting her hand on his chest, holding him back. "Let's just go inside, please."

Sebastian looked down at her and his eyes softened a little. He sighed and Clary felt his body relax a little. "Fine, if that's what you want." He said before glaring at Jace as he grabbed her hand and led her back inside.

As she passed Jace she heard him whisper something to her, a bit confused she looked back and watched him watch her walk away before disappearing into the shadows again.

"I'm sorry." Sebastian said as he stopped and turned to look at her.

Surprised, Clary said, "Why should you be sorry?"

"Because tonight was supposed to be a happy occasion and that jerk almost ruined the night."

Clary smiled a little, "Don't worry about it. He doesn't matter." She said, faltering a little at the end.

Sebastian searched her a little as he noticed the change in her voice, but didn't say anything about it. He merely nodded and kissed Clary on the cheek before being whisked away by his father.

Once they were out of her sight Clary snuck back outside and into the garden. Her stomach doing flips the entire time she made her way a little deeper into the garden.

"You came," a voice behind her said, causing her to jump a little. Turning around she saw Jace stepping out of the shadows.

"Yes, so why don't you tell me what you want." Clary asked a bit irritated.

"I wanted to see you."

"So you've seen me, now I need to be making my way back inside before someone misses my presence." Clary responded as she went to walk past him.

"Clary," he said as he caught her arm, stopping her, "please hear me out."

"Why should I after that scene you caused with Sebastian?"

"I'm sorry about that; the guy just gets under my skin."

"And that's your excuse?" Clary said pulling her arm out of his grasp. Anger was burning up inside of her and she really didn't want to talk to him at the moment.

"Clary, stop." Jace said in pleading tone as he stepped in front of her.

Clary sighed, exasperated. "What?" she said harshly.

Jace flinched a little at the hardness in her voice but he regained his composure. "I just wanted to see you."

"Well you could have done that inside."

"But I wouldn't have been able to talk to you, or to get this close to you." He said, stepping closer to her.

To Clary's surprised she stepped back, even though her body was yearning to be held in his strong arms. "Jace, I can't."

"Yes you can. You can get out of the marriage, and if worse comes to worse you can just leave him at the altar."

Clary almost laughed at the idea. A few weeks ago she was the one who wanted to run away from responsibility and now she was the one owning up to it while Jace was the one spouting of ridiculous ideas. It made her heart ache.

"Jace, don't do this now. You made your choice." Clary said as she tried to step past him again.

"Clary, please." He said catching her arm and looking at her mournfully.

"No, Jace. Stop being a child and grow up. You were the one who chose this path, so now it's time for you to man up and accept it. "Clary said even more irritated at him. How dare he try to win her heart again right when she had finally accepted her fate.

Jace's face turned to stone and then went hard and his eyes gleamed with anger. "Fine. Have it your way and live happily ever after with Verlac. I'm better off anyway without you." He said his voice cold and distant causing Clary's blood to run cold with regret.

But pride getting the better of her she smiled at him and walked off. "Have a nice life, sir. I know I will."

**Once again I'm sorry it took so long. And sorry if I didn't catch any incorrect grammar or spelling that needed to be corrected. **


	10. Change in the Air

Chapter 10

Back inside the house, Clary made her way towards the refreshment table yet again, her throat had suddenly becomes dry and she needed something to drink. She was just about there when someone wrapped their arms around her from behind, causing Clary to tense up. The owner of the arms let out a familiar chuckle and Clary's body relaxed immediately.

"I found you." The words tickled her ear a little.

"You can be so intolerable at times." Clary said as she turned around and looped her arms around the young man's neck.

"Aw, and here I thought I was perfect in your eyes." Sebastian said with a mischievous smile.

Clary sighed and rolled her eyes playfully as she stepped back a little. "Perfect? Hardly. But I suppose you can be pretty darn close sometimes."

This gained her another smirk as Sebastian led her to a corner of the room, away from the swarm of guests.

"So, why did your father steal you away from me?" Clary asked as she turned to face him.

"He wanted me to meet an old friend of his and then a slew of others came along to congratulate me. Took every ounce of my conniving ability to get away from them."

Clary laughed and brought a smile to Sebastian's face, reminding Clary of what he had said when they had been outside and causing her to blush. Sebastian chuckled again and kissed her forehead.

"What was that for?" Clary asked blushing even more.

Sebastian brushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear and let his fingers linger there a second more than necessary. "Because you make me happy," he said softly.

For some reason this made Clary extremely happy and feeling brave she reached up and placed a quick kiss on his lips, leaving him with a look of surprise on his face.

"You make me happy too," Clary said as he continued to stare at her.

Suddenly Sebastian picked her up at her waist and spun her around in a circle before sitting her back down.

"I am so glad that you are going to be mine." Sebastian said. Coming from most those words would have sounded demeaning almost in a way but coming from Sebastian they sounded sweet. But that was probably due to the fact that they had a sound of disbelief in them.

"You should be considering there's not another girl like me out there in the world." Clary teased.

"No, there's not is there?" Sebastian said. "So tell me what would you..." Sebastian died off as his attention drifted from her to something else, his eyes looking beyond her with an almost hard expression. Clary tried to look behind her to see what it was that had caught Sebastian's eye, but couldn't see anything but the happy party-goers.

"Sebastian?" Clary said softly

Sebastian jerked his attention back to Clary before looking back. "I'm sorry, Clary, but I'm afraid I have some business I need to attend to."

"Sebastian."

"I'll see you tomorrow, have a good time." And with that Sebastian quickly disappeared.

Clary sighed and decided to go back to the punch bowl; she never had gotten herself something to drink. She then tried to kill the next few hours by mingling, something she hated to do but there wasn't really anything else to do.

Clary had just finished talking to a friend of her mother's when a scream from outside was heard and everything went into a frenzy. Looking around Clary couldn't see anything besides men hustling towards the doors as some women went with them and others tried to get out of the way and retreat to the back of the room. Clary tried to inch her way towards the doors as well until a pair of hands gripped her arm and pulled her back.

"No you don't, young lady, you stay right here." Valentine said as he gave her a pointed look.

"Yes, sir," Clary said reluctantly before adding. "Be careful."

Her father kissed her forehead and followed the others who were going to investigate.

**Sorry that this chapter was extremely short compared to the others. Will try to make the next one longer if possible.**


	11. Beginnings of War

Chapter 11

Clary had been ushered into her room and been locked in for her "safety" and she wasn't the least bit happy about it. Her father had managed to work his way back through the chaos outside to get back inside and had ordered a few servants to take her to her room and then went back outside to continue fighting. The first thing Clary had done after realizing she had been locked in was to go out on the balcony, when she did some of the anger disappeared. From there Clary would see what was going on below. Clary's eyes grew wide when she saw that the estate had been surrounded by not only Shadowhunters, but Downworlders and even a few demons.

What really surprised Clary was that the Shadowhunters weren't only fighting against demons, but that there were fighting there brothers as well. Never before could Clary remember a time when Shadowhunters had ever battled with each other in earnest and not in training for fun.

Clary was now in her room changing into the only set of Shadowhunter gear she had. It was actually an old set of her mother's that Clary had found in storage in an old chest when looking for a dress before they had some to the Verlac's estate. Curtain her mother wouldn't miss it, Clary had taken it out and hid it among her own wardrobe. Now, Clary was glad she had taken it as she tied her boots.

When she was done she braided her hair down her back and looked at herself in the mirror. For a second Clary couldn't believe she was the same girl, she looked so different in the black Shadowhunter gear than she did when dressed in fine colorful dresses. She didn't look like a silly girl, but a tough young lade, and she liked it. With a final look in the mirror, Clary grabbed the steal that Luke had gotten her for her birthday and drew runes for speed, strength, stealth, silence, and several others that she thought would be helpful.

Clary then walked towards the door and placed the steal onto the smooth wood and drew an open rune. Making sure no one was around she slipped out and made her way to the weapons room, which was on the other side of the house. Heart beating fast with anticipation, Clary opened the door to the weapons room slowly and edged herself in. Looking around, Clary found a few weapons she thought she could handle fairly well and left just as quickly as she had entered.

Satisfied now that she had weapons, Clary took the set of stairs closest her current location in the house and made her way down to the first floor. She didn't run into a single soul, they were probably all outside fighting. Before she could change her mind Clary found the closest door that led outside and entered the fray of clashing weapons.

Once outside Clary decided that she would only take down demons, since she didn't know who was or wasn't on her side. Just as she was thinking this Clary could smell the stench of a demon from behind her and spun around quickly and ducked as the demon made a swipe at her neck. Without thinking twice she grabbed one of the seraph blades she had and called its name, Clary then sliced off the demon's head before it could make its next move.

With a deep breath, Clary continued into the mass of fighting bodies and continued to take down demons as she came across them. She made sure to be very careful of those around her, not wanting to be forced into a fight with someone who wasn't a demon. Clary also didn't want to run into her father, for he would be force her to go back to her room if he saw her fighting.

Covered in sweat and smeared with demon gore and dirt, Clary lost count of how many demons she fought. Glad that none of them seemed to be extremely powerful demons, but all lower level ones. She had just decapitated a fairly week demon when she bumped into someone behind her and quickly jumped away and turned around.

"What are you doing?" Jace's voice was hard as he stared at her in disbelief.

It took Clary a moment to get a grip on herself to answer.

"I'm trying to help the enemy escape. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Don't be sarcastic right now, you shouldn't even be here."

Clary felt stung by Jace's words for reasons she didn't know.

"I am a Shadowhunter as well; therefore, I have just as much of a right to be here as you do." Clary said fiercely before turning away.

Jace called her name but Clary ignored him and made her way to the next demon she saw. As she approached it she pulled out another seraph blade. She had already gone through three and they had all been destroyed by the amount of demon blood they had come intact with. Besides the one she was currently using Clary only had one more and then she would have to settle for a couple daggers she had put into her belt.

Clary swung the sword at the demon's neck in front of her; it had its back to her and Clary wanted to finish it off quickly and head towards the next one she had already spotted. But a split second before the sword made contact the demon spun around and dodged the blow. Clary let out a sound of frustration but recollected herself quickly and was on the offensive again. It took a little more effort than the others but Clary finally had finally severed the demons head from its neck.

Suddenly Clary felt a sharp pain in her side and she had to bite her lip from gasping. Clary's hand flew to her side at the same time she looked over her right shoulder. A few feet away there was a young male Shadowhunter with a bow in his hand and a determined look on his face, but when his eyes met hers his determination seemed to falter and he almost seemed startled. Clary looked away from him and looked down at her side where an arrow protruded from her side. Bringing her hand away, Clary saw that it was covered in blood, but she didn't let it affect her. Making a quick decision she broke the shaft but left the arrow where it was, afraid that if she pulled it out it would cause the bleeding to increase.

She took a step and decided it wasn't too uncomfortable, and she would probably forget all about it once she was started to battle again. Clary had barely taken three steps when she was shoved to the side. Gaining her footing Clary turned around to see who had pushed her, only to be surprise to see Jace fending off a demon.

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings," Jace said in a gruff voice as he deflected an attack.

Clary opened her mouth to say something and then closed it, not knowing what to say. She was about to ask if he wanted help when suddenly she felt week and her vision started to blur a little. Clary tried to breath deeper, but suddenly even her lungs seemed to be betraying her as she realized it was getting a little harder to get oxygen into her airways.

_Poison._

The thought came to Clary suddenly and she felt stupid for not taking the arrow head out. In her concern over increasing the bleeding she hadn't even contemplated the idea that the arrow could be poisoned. Of course Shadowhunters didn't usually worry about such a thing, but then again Shadowhunters didn't usually fight other Shadowhunters.

Clary's head had started to feel heavy and her legs had turned into rubber. She tried to stay standing but suddenly her knees just gave and she crumpled to the ground. Everything around her seemed to be moving slower than it should and sounds were farther away than the normally were. Clary felt like this should concern her but she was just so tired she didn't care.

Suddenly Clary felt hands on her shoulders and a voice calling out to her. With a great effort, Clary forced her eyes open and saw that Sebastian was in front of her, covered in dirt and grime and wearing a concerned look on his face.

"Clary." Sebastian said and Clary focused on her breathing. "Clary, please stay with me. I want you by my side."

_Sebastian._ Clary tried to say, but no sound came out of her mouth.

"Promise you will stay by my side." Sebastian said a little less concerned and a little more confident.

_Promise_. Clary mouthed.

"Is that a promise?" Sebastian asked. Clary nodded.

Sebastian seemed to have a satisfied look on his face as Clary's vision started to fade again, and something about the gleam in his eyes bothered Clary, but she didn't know what or why.

**Hope you liked this chapter. If time allows I will try to get another chapter up tomorrow. If not then you will have to wait until next weekend. **


	12. Sudden Truths

Chapter 12

It had been a month since the announcement of her betrothal to Sebastian that had been so terribly interrupted by an attack of rebels. Somehow that battle that had taken place on the Verlac's estate was the beginning of a full on civil war. At first everyone thought things would be settled the next day, a week at the most, but everyone had been wrong. The battles were still raging on all over and as they continued to go on the temperature continued to drop. It was well into fall and winter really wasn't all that far away.

Currently Clary was curled up in a chair close to the fireplace in the library with the latest letter from Sebastian that she had just finished reading in her hand. As she glanced towards the window, Clary saw that the rain was falling harder than it had been a few minutes before and that the wind seemed to be blowing even stronger. She would have liked to have gone for a ride or take a walk in the garden, even though all the flowers were long dead by now, but it was so miserable outside there was no way she could.

The sound of the grandfather clock striking seven o'clock in the evening rang out throughout the house and Clary sighed as she was reminded of how silent the house was now. Not only was Sebastian off fighting, but so was both of her parents, Luke, and even Simon. A voice in the back of her mind stated that Jace was undoubtedly also somewhere fighting. With only her and a few servants inhabiting the house clary felt extremely lonely. She had reread every book she had received from Sebastian and several she already had, gone through an entire song book of sheet music for the piano, used up an entire book of drawing paper on art work, and had even knitted a scarf and a blanket. Frankly, she was running out of things to do with no one around to keep her company.

As the lonely feeling grabbed ahold of her once more, angle was rekindled within Clary. She was still upset with her father for not letting her go with them to battle. She would have been happy just to help draw iratzes and other helpful runes on the others and help in other ways, but her father hadn't even given it a seconds thought. Clary had hoped that since she had done so well at the Verlac's that her father might let her actually let her do something, but that hadn't been the case at all. Not even five minutes after Clary had woken up in her own bed was Valentine reprimanding her, albeit with a look of pride in his eyes. But none of that really mattered. She was still stuck at home all alone while the others were risking their lives.

"Miss, would you like some supper in hear?"

Clary jumped a little at the voice behind her and turned her head to see that one of the servants was standing in the doorway.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm not hungry, but I would like some tea." Clary said as her heart beat regulated itself. The servant nodded and scurried off to retrieve the tea.

Sighing, Clary sat the letter down on a nearby table and picked up the book she was currently reading. So absorbed in her book, she did not even notice the servant come back and place a tea set on the table beside the letter. It wasn't until Clary had finished the chapter, which had probably taken about twenty minutes due to its length, that she even realized that the servant had come and gone. Clary stood up to stretch her legs and placed the book on the chair. She then poured herself a cup of tea and added a little honey and lemon and walked over to the window. The tea was still warm, thankfully, and it helped sooth Clary as she drank it. It was dark outside, so dark in fact, due to the weather, that Clary could barely make anything out with her eyes. Taking another sip of tea, Clary turned away from the window and retrieved her book. She then started to make her through the house to the stairs to go back to her room. She wanted to answer Sebastian's letter immediately.

However she was stopped as she started to put her foot on the first step by someone calling her name, again. Looking behind her she saw her father's servant, her babysitter, walking quickly towards her with a package in hand.

"Marcus?" Clary said with a questioning look.

Marcus was a few years older than her father. He wasn't a Shadowhunter, but he did have the gift of sight and came from a long line of humans who had served the Shadowhunters. He was also one of Valentine's closest and most trusted friends, second to Luke and her mother of course. The man was also like an uncle to her in a way and even though she hated the feeling of being baby sat she held nothing but feelings of affection and respect for the man.

"From your father," he replied as he held it out to her. As he did he raked back some of the wet curly auburn hair that had come loose from the pony tail at the nape of his neck. Looking at him further Clary realized that his entire 6'1" frame was drenched from the rain and she felt a mixture of tenderness and appreciation as she realized he must have been out in that terrible weather.

"Thank you very much, Marcus. You should change into something dry and drink some tea to warm yourself up before you catch a cold."

"Yes, Miss Clary." Marcus said with an amused twinkle in his light blue eyes.

Clary gave a small smile and hurried up the stair and into her room to see what her father could have possibly sent her.

Clary untied and pulled the red string around the package and then quickly ripped off the brown paper, uncovering a box. She then also tore open the box and gently dumped the contents onto her bed. Three letters and two wrapped square object of different sized fell out. Clary opened the smaller of the two objects first, tearing the paper off to uncover what look like a small purple velvet box that was no bigger than the palm of her hand. She opened the lid and revealed a little wooden figurine of a horse and a silver necklace with a pendant of the commitment rune of marriage on it. She then unwrapped the larger box and saw that it was a new drawing book for her art. With a smile, Clary then opened the closest letter to her and saw that it was from her father and mother. It didn't say much other than that the wooden horse was from Luke and that they were all doing well and unharmed and that my father felt confident that the rebel forces would surrender sooner than later.

Clary then opened the next letter and saw that it was from Simon and was surprised that it had been sent to her with the rest of the package. It must have been her mother's doing because unlike Jocelyn, who was quite found of Simon, her father didn't approve of their friendship all that much. This letter said much the same thing as the last, that Simon was doing well and that it seemed that the Rebel forces were waning and that everyone was hopeful of a speedy victory. Finally Clary opened the last letter and her smile grew as she saw that it was from Sebastian.

_My dearest Clary,_

_I am glad to say I am doing fine and have not been wounded in any serious way, the most severe wound so far being shallow gash on my forearm that an iratze was quick to heal. The weather here had been tolerable until recently. I hope you haven't had to endure as much rain as it seems we have received within the last week or so. _

_I also hope that you enjoy the book I sent you for you to continue creating more art work, I have no doubt in my mind that if you haven't already used up all of your previous paper already that you are down to your last couple pieces and in dire need of more. And while on the subject of gifts, I greatly appreciated the scarf you sent me, it has come in quite handy with the current weather. The necklace is a gift of thanks, in case you were wondering. I was in a village just long enough a couple days ago to buy you the paper and while I was I couldn't help but get you the necklace as well. _

_Now, on to more serious subjects, because I know you are very curious as of to what is going on. The rebellion is going as well as expected I suppose, and should be solved up within a few weeks if the weather allows. There have not been too many casualties to the Shadowhunters, but there have been many when it concerns the demons and Downworlders. But I suppose that was to be expected to some degree. I am happy to say that you parents are both well and have not had many injuries at all. I also saw the Lewis boy, the one you are friends with, not too long ago and he seemed to be doing quite well also. _

_ Back to the weather issue, I do hope that the weather cooperates so that we can all go home, for I cannot wait until I can see your beautiful face once more. I must admit I miss you terribly and long to hold you in my arms and to see your smile. Every night my dreams are filled of you and your laugh and quick wit and smart mouth. They are also full of us going on pleasant walks in the garden and going on long rides together in weather much more tolerable than the present. I sincerely hope you miss me as much as I miss you._

_ Longing to see you again,_

_ Sebastian_

Clary reread the letter several times before putting it up. Not wanting to wait until morning, she wrote letters back to her parents and Simon. She also wrote one to Luke thanking him for the horse figurine and inquiring how he was doing. Once done with those she wrote a lengthy one to answer both letters she had received from Sebastian today. As she was sealing the last letter Clary heard the clock downstairs ring out eleven o'clock and was shocked at how late it had gotten.

Feeling a little less lonely Clary changed and went to bed, falling asleep easily. She dreamed of summer and being in her garden with her family and friends. There was no war and there was no sadness.

The next morning Clary woke up to it being sunnier than it had been for a while and she silently hoped that today would go fairly well. With the weather straitening up she could go for a long ride or even a walk in the garden or even both if she desired. She quickly got dressed and made her way down the stairs to the kitchen to see what the cook had made for breakfast this morning.

After having eggs, cinnamon toast, and bacon, Clary went for a long ride that last what was left of the morning and went into some of the early afternoon. She was had just entered the house from coming back from the stables when she heard the sounds of conversation near the front of the house. Wondering if she would be lucky enough to receive yet another letter from someone and to make sure her letters had been sent off, Clary quickly made her way towards the voices. As she entered the parlor of the house the voices quieted and Clary looked up to see Marcus holding an open letter in one hand and his other running down his face as the man beside him placed his hand on Marcus's shoulder and stopped talking at the sight of her.

Marcus turned to see Clary and she saw that his eyes held a looked made up of a mixture of pain and disbelief. Clary's heart skipped a beat and she felt her nearly perfect day start to crumble apart.

"Marcus, what wrong?"

Marcus looked back at the man, Clary guessed he was the messenger, and then looked back at her.

"Is it my parents?" Clary felt terror flow through her at the very thought of something happening to either of her parents.

"No, your parents are fine." Marcus said a little hesitantly. Clary felt relief flood through her just for another terrible thought to bring back the sick feeling from a few second ago.

"Luke?"

"Luke is fine as well. And so is Simon," Marcus added when Clary opened her mouth. "Everyone is fine."

"Then what is it?" Clary asked as she relaxed a little but still prepared herself for whatever had happened. But nothing could have prepared her for Marcus's answer.

"It's Sebastian. It was found out that he was the leader of the rebel forces."

**As always, I hoped you liked that chapter. Please let me know what you think about it. **


	13. Dreams into Nighmares

Chapter 13

**Sorry it has taken me so long to update, I've been swamped by school work the last couple weeks. I was also reading through the story and realized I haven't been doing too good of an editing job. Which makes since considering I usually write it, edit it super quick, and then post it. So I will try harder to make sure to use their and there at the right moments, along with all of the other errors. Any ways, thank you for waiting so patiently. Hope you like this chapter.**

Clary suddenly felt a coldness that wasn't due to the chill of the outside and crossed her arms tighter. After the messenger had left Clary had bolted outside and made a beeline to her favorite spot in the garden. The shrubs were very tall here and they easily blocked the chilly wind that blew from the south. Clary had avoided this area of the garden, where she was sitting on a white stone bench, since the last secret meeting she had had with Jace when it had still felt like summer and the fountain in front of her had been spewing water. It was her favorite spot in the garden and she had always gone there when she needed to think or just wanted to get away for a while. Since that last night with Jace she hadn't really needed to run to her safe haven, not with Sebastian always around. Now she was here because of Sebastian. There were so many thoughts running through Clary's head, so many questions, and there were no answers to be found.

Clary didn't know how long she sat there or when enough of the numb feeling that had took ahold of her had faded and allowing her pent back tears to finally start running down her frozen cheeks. It wasn't until she heard an owl hoot loudly nearby that she was brought back from her desperate thoughts and she realized that the sun had gone down and it was already dark enough to see stars in the sky. With a shaky breath, Clary stood up and made her way back towards the house. Once inside she didn't get very far when she heard her name being called from behind her. Turning to see who, Clary saw it was Marcus with a somewhat worried expression on his face.

"Where have you been, Miss?" Marcus's voice was stern.

"The garden." Clary said, just a little irritated.

"The entire time?" He sounded disapproving.

"Yes."

Marcus crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes now looking at her very sternly.

"Clarissa, I know the news is unexpected, but you can't act so irresponsibly."

Clary sighed a little. Marcus only ever called her by her name without a title when he was feeling the especially affectionate with her. Even though he was a mere human, he also was like family to her.

"I just needed to think, besides, today is the warmest it's been in a long time." She replied, not wanting him to worry about her when there really wasn't reason to.

Marcus eyed her a little dubiously before sighing himself and shaking his head a little. "Just don't stay out so long next time, not with the weather the way it is."

"I won't," she promised, not wanting him to be more upset over her.

Marcus nodded. "Would you like something to eat? The cooks made soup; it would warm you up some."

"No, thank you. I really just want to change and go to bed."

Marcus stared at her a little before nodding his head again. "Alright."

Clary gave a half-hearted smile and made her way up the stairs and into her bedroom, where she changed into completely fresh, dry clothing and flung herself onto her bed. She lay there for a second and then got under the covers and stared up at the ceiling, not the least bit tired.

Clary hadn't even became aware of the fact she had fallen asleep until she opened her eyes and saw that it was summer and not winter. Looking around she saw that she was in a city. The city had probably been very beautiful at one time, but now it was covered in blood and gore. The buildings around her looked abandoned and there was no one in sight even though it was the middle of the day.

Suddenly Clary felt her skin tingle a little and turned around. When she did her heart stopped for a second. There, standing at the top of the steps and leaning against a pillar of the very elegant building in front of her, stood Sebastian. He had on Shadowhunter black and his arms were crossed over his chest; Clary noticed his hair was a little longer than the last time she had saw him.

"Clary," he said, his eyes lightening a little. He had a happy expression on his face and even smiled at her.

"Sebastian." Clary said barely above a whisper. Her heart had started beating again, but it was now pounding irregularly hard and fast in her chest.

"I've missed you." Sebastian's voice was tender and soft as he started to walk to the steps towards her. Clary didn't know what to say, and even if she did she didn't think her voice would work enough for the words to get out of her mouth.

"You look beautiful."

Clary was startled at this and looked down. She was surprised to see that she was wearing a light weight dress the same shade of blue she had worn at the Verlac's to the ball. The dress tied around her neck and showed of some of her back and the skirt stopped at about her mid-shin. It bellowed a little in the wind.

Looking back up, Clary saw that Sebastian now stood in front of her. He held at a hand and Clary hesitated a second before taking it.

"Did you like the gifts I sent you?" He asked, smiling down at her and taking her other hand in his as well.

"Y-yes," Clary said, feeling nervous.

"I'm glad."

Clary smiled faintly up at him. She was feeling so torn and she didn't know why. She had indeed missed him, but at the same time there was something deep down inside that told her she shouldn't trust him.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian looked down at her looking worried.

"I, it's just, I don't know."

Sebastian was still looking at her with an almost uneasy expression, and then he was kissing her. At first Clary was lost in the kiss, but suddenly images of the battle and a messenger talking to a shocked Marcus blooded her mind and suddenly she remembered why part of her was afraid of Sebastian, why she was so hesitant to trust him.

Clary stepped back abruptly, hugging herself; Sebastian looked at her in confusion.

"Why?" Clary asked.

"Why what?" Sebastian said, still confused.

"Why did you do it?"

Sebastian just looked at Clary for a second as if pondering her question. Then, suddenly, his eyes grew wide and then hardened a little. The gleam in his eyes scared her a little, but then Clary remembered it was just a dream.

"I see," he said, and then was silent. "Let me show you something."

Before Clary could protest, Sebastian wrapped his arms around her and Clary felt a disorienting feeling for a split second and then it was gone and Sebastian stepped away from her. At first Clary was puzzled, but then she saw that they were up very high and down below them lay the city and then beyond it the dead looking land. There was smoke in the sky and after a second look Clary saw that fire was all over, devouring the city and the land outside of it. She looked up at Sebastian, confused. Clary wondered why Sebastian would want to show her this. Sebastian's eyes were still hard, but as he looked over the land he seemed almost happy. With a start, Clary grasped the truth that he was responsible for this, and once again she was afraid of him.

_Just a dream, _she reminded herself.

Sebastian finally looked down at her. "What do you think?"

"I, I don't know what to think." Clary said, carefully choosing her words. "Why, why did you do this?"

Sebastian actually threw his head back a laughed a little before looking back at her, his eyes dancing. "Why? Because I want all of it to be mine."

Clary didn't know how to respond to this answer. Out of all of the reasons in her head, this wasn't one that she had thought of. But, she suddenly realized, it was one she should have thought of.

Thinking back, Clary couldn't remember one moment when Sebastian had seemed like he wanted to destroy the world. A sick feeling came over Clary. But there had been moments when he had almost seemed, dangerous, like when Sebastian had almost gotten into a fight with Jace. And then there was the dream she had had, where Sebastian had killed Jace. Clary remembered herself asking where he had been and Sebastian answering, _Conquering the world._ She had thought he was just being silly, now she thought different.

"So, what do you think?"

Clary gasped a little at the sound of Sebastian's voice as she was brought out of her thoughts.

"What?" She asked, a bit embarrassed for not hearing his entire question.

"I asked, what do you think of becoming my queen."

_I need a queen. _The words made Clary shiver a little, what if the dream hadn't been just a dream. What if _this_ dream wasn't just a dream? Clary shook her head, not allowing the thoughts to take root.

"Why?" Clary asked, careful to make her voice sound curious and not revolted.

"Because, if I am going to rule over this world, it is just fitting my wife be queen." Sebastian looked down as her and smiled. "Once this stupid war is over we can be married and then together we can recreate this decrepit world."

"I'm sorry, but I still don't understand why we need to recreate the world. What is wrong with it now?" Clary asked cautiously.

"Because, Shadowhunters have become as unimportant as Mundanes. We live in secret and try to pass ourselves off as one of them. Why should we hide? Mundanes should know we exist, should see us as gods." Sebastian said.

"But, that's blasphemy." Clary said, shocked.

"I didn't really mean _gods_, I mean they should fear and respect us and acknowledge us as the ones who keep them safe. Shadowhunters should rule over this world, not them."

Clary thought this over. It was true that the Shadowhunters lived in secret, along with the Downworlders, keeping their true identities secret from the rest of the world. Not having to hide who they were would be nice, but it would also be nice if there wasn't a war going on or if she had been able to choose her own husband. A lot of things would be nice, but just because you thought so didn't really mean anything in the real grand scheme of things.

Clary didn't think she could hide her revolted feelings of what Sebastian had done or how much she disagreed with him much longer. A part of her just wanted to tell him what she really thought, but the part that was afraid of how he would react kept keeping her in check. _It's just a dream, _she reminded herself.

"Sebastian." Clary's voice faltered a little. _Just a dream._ With a deep breath she tried again, "Sebastian, I don't…"

"Don't," Sebastian interrupted, not allowing Clary to finish. "Don't say what I think you are about to say."

"And what would that be?"

"That you don't agree with me. I knew there was a possibility of you not understanding at first, but I am fine with that. I am willing to give you time to understand, time to come around." Sebastian looked at Clary fondly as he ran his fingers through her hair. "So what do you say? Will you give it a chance? Because I want you by my side, you are meant to be by my side."

Clary didn't know what to say, her head was swimming even more and once again she found herself split. Part of her wanted to decline Sebastian's offer, to tell him he was crazy and then she wanted nothing to do with him. Yet, another part of her found the idea alluring and was touched that Sebastian was willing to wait for her to get use to the idea. Looking past Sebastian, Clary focused on the burning city. She watched as the flames reached for the sky and the smoke curled as it intertwined itself with the clouds. It looked as if the Hell had come to Earth.

Clary gasped as the thought ran through her mind. Suddenly she could hear the crackle of the flames and what sounded like cries of agony. A shiver went through her body as she finally took in her surroundings. It was as if her senses had been asleep and were now awake. With sudden clarity, Clary met Sebastian's gaze. His eyes hardened a little as he saw the resolve in her eyes.

"No." _Just a dream. _"I don't want to have anything to do with this." Clary was surprised at how strong her voice sounded.

"_No."_ Sebastian said in disbelief. "How dare you! Do you not realize what an honor I am giving you? I am offering you the opportunity to be _queen_ of this wretched world."

"I do not wish to be queen." Clary's voice was calmer than she felt.

"You will be queen because you are to be my wife."

"I do not wish to be married to you either. I told you I wanted nothing to do with this."

Sebastian's eyes blazed and suddenly his eyes were entirely black.

"You belong to me; therefore, you will be my wife and you will be my queen." Sebastian growled.

Clary tried to take a step back but Sebastian grabbed her wrist tightly and prevented her. Fear was slowly spreading its way throughout her and Clary had to keep reminding herself over and over that Sebastian couldn't really hurt her. Trying to pull away, Sebastian tightened his grip on her and drew her in closer. Sebastian gave her a cruel smile, and then he was kissing her. Unlike the others, which had been tender and slow, this one was rough and angry. But even with all the anger Clary could feel a hint of desperation, so much so that it pulled a little at her heart.

She didn't know why, but suddenly Clary was no longer afraid and willing to give Sebastian a chance. Clary felt Sebastian relax a little and his smile as he softened the kiss a little. After a few more seconds, Sebastian pulled away with a smirk on his face. Clary knew that Sebastian was feeling victorious at the moment and deep down inside she felt like this should bother her, anger her even, but for some reason she just didn't care.

Clary was about to apologize for being so hard headed when a figure behind Sebastian caught her eye. It took all of her will power to not gasp in surprise as her eyes focused on the golden hair and eyes of the ghost like figure. _Jace._

He was in Shadowhunter gear, much like the last time she had seen him, and his was covered in blood and look worn out. His eyes held a sad, pleading look as he reached out one of his semi-transparent arms towards her. Clary's heart stopped for a second and then seemed to crack, as if preparing to shatter.

_What do you want_? Clary thought, desperately. Jace shook his head as her and reached out towards her even more, as if asking her to come to him. Clary shook her head back at him, _I can't. _

Jace smiled at her sadly with an intense gaze. _Yes you can, _he seemed to say. Clay shook her head again, taking a step back. She glanced at Sebastian, who was now standing beside her with his back to Jace, and saw that his lips were moving as he told her something she couldn't hear. Looking back at Jace, Clary saw the golden haired boy take a step towards he and she in return took another step back. Jace looked hurt at her reaction, but instead of stopping he kept trying to get closer to her.

Clary hadn't noticed that Sebastian had kept her hand in his, so she was unaware of when she pulled her hand out of his as she continued to walk backwards. Then without warning as she went to put her foot down it hit the edge whatever Clary was standing on and slipped off. Startled, Clary wasn't able to correct herself enough to keep her balance and she felt herself start to fall backwards. Jace had a look of panic as this happened and ran towards her.

_Jace!_ Clary thought at him in terror. But before he could reach her Sebastian's strong arms grabbed her and placed her back on solid ground. Clary was about to thank him when she noticed that he wasn't looking at her, but towards where Jace stood, with a dangerous glint to his eyes. With a sick thud of her heart, Clary realized that she had screamed his name out loud. Sebastian walked away from her and Clary felt fear for Jace, even though he wasn't a solid figure. Then, suddenly, something inside Clary snapped and it wasn't fear she felt anymore, but pure, unrelenting, panic. She no longer wanted to follow Sebastian; she wanted to fight him, to ruin his plans before they had the chance to become real, before this dream had the chance to become real.

"How did you get here?" Sebastian demanded with pure hatred in his voice. Jace gave him what seemed like a snarky look, one that was probably meant to make Sebastian even angrier. It worked. Sebastian lunged at Jace, and as he did Jace became less transparent, more tangible. Then out of nowhere a sword appeared in Sebastian's hand and arced its way towards Jace.

"Jace," Clary screamed out, as she saw what was about to happen.

Jace side stepped Sebastian and then a sword of his own appeared. He glanced back at Clary, a look of relief on his face as he smiled at her. This infuriated Sebastian even more and he started to make another attack and then stopped abruptly. He turned to look at Clary and saw that he had a mischievous gleam in his eyes and his lips were curled up into a smirk. Then suddenly he was no longer by Jace, but behind Clary with his arms wrapped around her.

"What are you going to do now?" Sebastian's voice was venomous. Jace made a step towards them, his eyes blazing with anger. Sebastian chuckled and then brought a knife up to Clary's neck, causing Jace's body to go rigid as he froze in place.

"Thought so," Sebastian said as he kissed Clary's neck gently. Jace looked both furious and pained at the same time. "But just to be far, I'll give Clary a choice. She can stay with me or she can go to you."

Jace's eyes widened in surprise at this, but Clary didn't trust the tone of Sebastian's voice. He was too calm, and by now Clary knew how desperate he was to have her by his side. Sebastian removed the knife and pushed her forward a step, widening the space between them. At first Clary didn't move, she merely stood there and looked back and forth between the two boys. Sebastian had a confident look on his face that didn't waver even when she took a step to the side before standing in place again. Jace, however, did not look confident. He looked unsure and his eyes looked almost pleading as he looked at Clary. With longing in her heart, clary took a tentative step towards Jace and then another. She tried to call his name but it got stuck on her lips as her voice refused to work. Jace suddenly had a look a relief as Clary was about to take another step towards him, but she was prevented as once again Sebastian wrapped his arms around her possessively. Jace looked startled at this but didn't move, his eyes almost calculating.

"You didn't honestly think I would let you have her did you?" Sebastian's voice was sounded bored, but Clary could hear a tinge of menace; she also felt Sebastian's body tremble a little as he laughed. "If so you really are a fool. Clary is mine, she always has been and she always will be, and there is nothing you can do about it."

Jace's face was contorted with rage at Sebastian's words and he lunged at them. Clary felt Sebastian's arms tighten around her.

"Stupid boy." Sebastian said as he leaned took a step and leaned backwards. Clary heard Jace call out her name as she felt herself free fall towards the ground.

…

…

Clary woke with a start, her heart hammering away in her chest. _Jace._ Clary didn't know why, but she had the feeling that she had to worn Jace to stay away from Sebastian or something bad would happen. At the thought of what Sebastian would do to Jace, Clary's stomach tied itself into knots and fear started to consume her. She tried to calm herself and go back to sleep, but she couldn't. Closing her eyes she tried to focus on the sound of the wind outside, but all she could hear was Sebastian's voice.

_I want it to all be mine. _

_Together we can recreate this decrepit world. _

_You belong to me._

_You didn't think honestly think I would let you have her did you?_

_Clary is mine. She always has been and she always will be. _

It was like a mantra, repeating itself over and over again in her mind, until finally, she did fall sleep.

**Once again I am ****extremely**** sorry for taking so incredibly long to post this chapter. It seems like the most free time I've had lately is five minutes tops to work on this chapter, and those five minutes were few and far between. If it makes it any better, this is the longest chapter yet. Please tell me what you think. **


	14. Christmas

Chapter 14

**My homework load and other random activities is starting to die down a little, so hopefully that means I will be able to post at least once a week again. I am not going to promise I will, but I will promise that I will try.**

Clary was sitting at her desk with a painfully blank piece of paper in front of her and a still pen in hand. Frustrated, she ran her free hand through her mess of bed head curls to the best of her ability. She knew that she needed to write Jace, and she really wanted to, but she just didn't know how to go about it. The last few times they had seen each other they had left on bad terms after a rough exchange of words. Clary felt her heart sink a little, a feeling she didn't quite know what to do with yet. For what seemed forever Clary had been infatuated with Sebastian, but sometime between when she fell asleep and when she woke up that morning that infatuation had disappeared. It was as if she had been put under a spell and it had finally been broken. It was a disturbing feeling.

With a sigh, Clary finally attempted to write something down.

_Jace,_

_ I know that we haven't been on the best of terms for a while and I am deeply sorry for that. I was just trying to deal with the situation the best way I knew how to, which I admit probably wasn't the best in the long run. I hope you can forgive me, but if not that am perfectly understandable. I also hope that this letter isn't causing your ego to grow, because my apology is not the soul reason that I am writing this letter. The main reason I wrote this letter is to warn you to stay away from Sebastian at all costs. I fear that if you were to confront him in any way something terrible would happen to you. So please, I know this is a terrible thing to ask, but if you ever cared for me at all, please, please, do not go near him. Especially on the battle field. _

_Yours truly,_

_Clary_

Satisfied enough, Clary let the ink dry, folded the letter, and sealed it. She then ran down the stairs and gave it to one of the servants to mail. Feeling a little more relieved, she then went to the library to read in an attempt to get her mind off of her dream and what she felt like was a bad omen.

Clary spent the next few days doing the same routine: get up, eat, read, eat, paint or draw, eat, read, go to bed. Occasionally she would shake things up and go for a walk or a ride on her horse if the weather was warm enough, but it didn't liven up her boring routine in the least. To Clary's dismay, the war was still going strong and the Shadowhunters were still trying to find Sebastian. According to her father, every time they thought they were close to capturing him he would slip through their fingers like smoke.

Also, as each day passed Clary continued to wonder why she had ever liked Sebastian as she felt more discuss for him every day. It really was as if she had been put under some kind of spell that made her think she was in love with Sebastian and the very idea made her skin crawl.

Finally one day, Marcus gave Clary a letter with her name on it in neat writing she knew very well. She gave Marcus a wide eyed look before running up to her room to open the letter.

_Dearest Clary,_

_ I was surprised to receive your letter, but extremely happy nonetheless. Even though it seems impossible to you, I do forgive you. I will also take your advice and not let it go to my head too much by refraining from writing down many comments that come to mind that I mean good heartedly but would probably result in you wanting to slap me the next time we meet. I am also sorry to say that I cannot promise you that if given the chance I will not pursue Sebastian or try to be the one to either capture or end his life. But I will promise I will not go out on my own or rush into things. I hope that is enough, for I do care for you and always will. I do not fully understand why you are so concerned for my well-being if I was to cross paths with Sebastian, or why you are so sure that I will, but as awful as it sounds I am glad that it was cause for you to write me. Please don't be too angry with me._

_With the deepest love,_

_Jace_

Clary wanted to scream in frustration as she sank onto her bed and sat the letter down beside her. She should have known Jace's sense of duty would be too strong to deter him from wanting to defeat Sebastian if given the chance. Jace wasn't in this for the glory, but because being a Shadowhunter was his life and every fiber of his being was meant to stop Shadowhunter enemies. Clary understood that, but she still wished he would heed her warning just this once. What little hope Clary had managed to muster vanished in a flash and fear settled inside of her as she realized that Jace would end up confronting Sebastian, no matter what she said. But Clary had a feeling that even if Jace had promised to stay away from Sebastian, Sebastian himself would probably go looking for Jace. Clary didn't know why she knew this, she just did.

So Clary wrote Jace another letter, telling him that she understood and warning him to be on his guard and to keep Alec, his parabatai, by his side at all times. Even though the last one was a moot point, Alec would never let Jace go off on his own, especially in battle. Feeling slightly better, Clary gave the letter to Marcus to send and waited for more news of the war to make its way to her home.

The war continued into winter and was still raging on even after Christmas and the New Year and it seemed that it was at a standstill. Yes the Shadowhunters were defeating demons and rogue Downworlders and Shadowhunter, but demons were always plentiful. And even though the Shadowhunters were still strong in numbers and hadn't lost too many lives, they still weren't any closer to capturing Sebastian or any of his commanding officers, which was very disheartening. It had also been nearly a month since Clary had heard anything from anyone.

That was why when Marcus found her in the library she was surprised to learn that she had a visitor. Without hesitating she had Marcus lead her to the parlor where a tall man dressed in Shadowhunter gear had his back to her. He had a hat on his head, so it wasn't until he took it off that she saw that his hair was a golden color. Clary froze in place for a second as her heart skipped a beat and then started to pound heavily in her chest and her breath caught for the briefest of moments before she managed to whisper his name. When he turned around his golden eyes glowed and grew a shade darker as they caught sight of her. His lips turned into a smile and suddenly Clary's feet were hastily making their way to him and into his outstretched arms.

"Jace." Clary said, as she drank in the scent of his skin and the warmth of his arms around her. She was suddenly overwhelmed by how _right_ it felt to be enveloped by his arms and of how perfect their bodies fit together.

"Clary," Jace whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her neck and sending shivers down her spine. "I missed you so much."

Clary took a step back to get a better look at him. "I missed you too. I'm so glad you are alright."

"Of course I'm alright; I'm one of the best Shadowhunters there is."

"Jace," Clary teared up a little bit, the feel extent of how much she had missed him and how relieved she felt that he was safe catching up to her.

"Clary," Jace said, concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just that I missed you so much I've been so worried about you." Clary said, feeling ashamed of herself for crying and being able to gain enough composure to stop.

Jace didn't say anything, he merely looked at her and wiped the tears away with his thumbs before pressing his lips onto hers into a deep, gently kiss. The kiss was brief and when he pulled away he kissed both of her closed eyelids.

"Silly girl, you have no reason to worry yourself so much about me." Jace said softly, holding her face in his rough, calloused, loving hands.

"You don't understand," Clary said, the tears lessening. "Sebastian is sure to come after you and he is just as skilled as you are."

"You are you so sure that Sebastian will come for me?"

"Because you have what he wants most, and he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants."

Jace gave her a slightly puzzled look before replying. "What would that be?"

"Me." Clary said matter-of-factly. It was something she was very sure of, even though she didn't have any hard evidence besides dreams and past slip ups of Sebastian's.

Jace's eyes widened and then turned hard as he realized just what she meant.

"Well, he can't have you."

"You say it as if it's just that easy, as if saying it will make it so, but you don't understand. Sebastian has it in his head that I am his, even if I do not wish to be his, and he's not use to not getting his way."

"But it is that easy because you won't give in to him and I will not let him take you. I don't care if I have to go to Hell and back to stop him, I will keep him away from you at all costs." Jace said fiercely, his eyes blazing with determination and resolve.

Even though it flustered Clary, she couldn't help but love the boy even more. How could she have ever doubted her feelings for him?

"I don't want to lose you again because of him." Clary said softly.

Jace gave her a halfhearted smile, "That's never gonna happen."

Clary closed eyes and gave a gasp of surprise as Jace kissed her again, only this time it was longer and needy, as if kissing her was keeping him alive. She wasn't sure which one of them pulled away first, but she was left feeling hungry for more.

"I love you." Jace said, causing Clary's eyes to widen a little because everything about his voice and his face told her he meant it.

"I love you too."

Jace smiled at her and Clary felt warmth spread through her entire being, chasing away the cold that she had been encased in for so long.

"Jace," Clary said a little cautiously.

"Yes?"

"Why are you here? I mean, I'm glad to see you, but shouldn't you be with everyone else on the battle front?"

Jace sighed and his face hardened a little. "Leave it to you to ruin a perfect moment." His voice was light, but Clary could tell that it was forced. "I came here to see you and to warn you to stay indoors for a while. The battles are slowly getting closer and closer to this area and I don't want you to get hurt. Although I doubt Sebastian will let things get too close to you, I thought I'd warn you just the same."

"Oh." Clary felt her mood fall a little.

"But I also came to give you this," Jace said as he pulled a small wrapped package out of his coat pocket. "I know Christmas has already come and gone, but late is better than never."

"But, I don't have anything for you." Clary said, shocked a little that Jace had gone through the trouble of getting her a gift.

"Being able to see you and touch you is all I wanted for Christmas." Jace said, his eyes darkening again, making Clary blush a little.

Without really thinking about it Clary reached up to her neck where a simple silver chain necklace with three charms on it. In the middle was a charm of the rune of angelic power, to its right was a smaller charm of the rune of strength, and to its left a smaller charm of the rune of fearlessness. Luke had given it to her on her tenth birthday and it was one of her most treasured possessions. She had stopped wearing it for some reason after her last birthday and had recently started wearing it again, hoping it would help her feel better as the war continued. With a quick movement of her fingers she opened the clasp and removed it from her neck.

"Here," Clary said as she offered the necklace to Jace. "It is the best I can do on such short notice. It is very dear to me, so promise me you will keep it safe and when the war is over you will return it to me."

"I can't take that from you, Clary. Not if it means so much to you." Jace said as he raised his hands as if to fend her off.

"But that is exactly why you should take it. Because it does mean a lot to me and if you have it you have to return to me."

Jace looked at her with almost sad eyes. "I will not take the necklace, but can I keep your ring?" He said, gesturing towards the silver ring on her right ring finger that had her families crest on it. Family was something that Shadowhunters took great pride in and every family had their own family ring and every Shadowhunter owned one. Clary had gotten hers as a gift when she was seven and her mother had started to teach her runes, foreign languages, and names of demons.

"Alright," Clary nodded. For the first time she could remember she took off her family ring and placed it in Jace's hand. Jace then reached up to a chain that lay around his neck, unclasped it, put the ring on it, and put the chain back around his neck. The ring wrested barely below his collarbones.

"Thank you, I promise one day I will return it to you when this dreadful war is done." Jace said as his took Clary's hands in his own.

Before Clary could respond the clock started to ring, letting the inhabitants of the house know that it was now five o'clock. Jace looked towards where the sound of the clock came from then looked back at Clary.

"I have to get back to camp. I promise to keep in touch." Jace placed a light kiss on Clary's lips and then he was gone.

Clary stood there for a while and then finally she turned to go to her room. On her way up the stairs, Clary put her necklace back on. With her back against the door of her room, Clary untied the red bow that was tied around her gift. She let the silk ribbon slip through her fingers and onto the floor as she carefully removed the silver wrapping paper, not wanting to rip it. Once the paper was off of the box Clary opened the lid and revealed a silver chain, much like the one Jace had been wearing. Clary picked up the chain curiously and shook the box a little, as she did there was a sliding sound. Clary removed the foam that the chain had been resting on and uncovered a silver ring. A family ring. Shaking her head, Clary put the ring on the chain and put it around her neck, allowing the ring to lie in the hollow of her neck right above her collarbones.

Clary wondered if Jace had planned things to go the way they did or if it had been fate. Whichever it was Clary didn't really care, because for the first time in weeks or even months, Clary fell asleep that night happy.

**I'm so sorry this took so long. I meant to post this over a week ago but things picked up again and I didn't have time to finish the chapter when I wanted. I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought about it. **


	15. Fooling the Enemy

Chapter 15

It was the middle of February and true to his promise Jace had kept in touch. Clary got at least one letter, if not two or three, from him every week and she made sure to answer every one of them. From what little Jace wrote about the war in his letters it didn't sound as if there was much fighting going on, especially with the new foot of snow that had just fallen, but they were still strategizing and trying to find the quickest way to end the war. But what Jace wrote the most about was how he missed her and how things were going with him. He also wrote about how he would confront her father once the fighting was over and try to talk things over with him. Jace was dead set on marrying her and he didn't care at all about a dowry, he just wanted to have Valentine's blessing, if that was even possible. Clary didn't think it was, but she wasn't going to tell Jace that.

Much to Clary's dismay, however, Sebastian had also sent her a few letters. Letter's that remained unopened and shoved in the bottom of her desk. She knew she should just burn them, but for some reason she just couldn't throw them into the fire.

Clary touched Jace's ring and smiled a little as she sealed the letter she had just finished writing for Jace. She had also written one for Luke as well, she missed him deeply as well and hadn't heard from him in a while. Satisfied she blew out her candle and went to bed.

….

Clary woke with a start and sighed in disappointment as her dream faded away. She was about to turn over and go back to sleep when something caught her eye. Sitting up in bed, Clary saw a figure standing in the shadows on her balcony, a little bit of moon light shining off of light colored hair. Clary smiled as the figure opened the door to the balcony. _Jace._

Clary opened her mouth to call his name, but the word froze in her throat as the figure stepped into a patch of moon light entering her room and Clary saw that the figures fair hair was not golden, but pale.

"What are you doing here?" Clary asked, surprised by how steady and normal her voice sounded even though she was somewhat alarmed.

Sebastian looked at her with questioning eyes. "You haven't been drinking the tea I sent have you?"

"What tea?"

Sebastian's eyes hardened for a second and then softened again. He almost seemed agitated. "I sent you tea." He said finally. "I take it you didn't receive it."

"I haven't received any tea." Clary said, confused by why this seemed to bother him so much.

Sebastian moved closer to her and Clary had to force herself to stay where she was and to not move away. He paused at her writing desk and his face seemed to harden even more. Looking back at Clary, Sebastian's eyes gleamed with hostility. Clary's heart started to pound faster in her chest as his gaze settled back onto her.

"Why have you not written me back?"

"I haven't received any letters from you lately." Clary lied.

"Really. I don't believe you." Sebastian's voice was cold. "I made sure my own men saw personally that the letters I sent you found their way into your hands."

Clary's chest tightened a little. "I couldn't send you any letters back. You should know that."

"Yes, I suppose it would be difficult for you to send one to me. But that doesn't explain why you have been writing Jace, now does it." Sebastian said with scorn as he held up the letter I had just written for Jace a few hours ago.

"He is my friend." Clary replied calmly, her stomach now tying itself into knots. How she wished he would just leave.

"Your friend." He said with his eyes burning with anger as he threw the letter back down onto the desk. "And I suppose it is only natural for a… _friend_… to send another friend their own family ring."

Clary lifted her chin a little, feigning disdain, and forced her hand to not fly up to touch the ring still hanging around her neck. "He is my friend. He sent it to me as a gift without me knowing."

"Are you senseless enough to honestly think that he sent it to you in friendship?" Sebastian asked in a hard voice, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

Clary somehow managed to stay calm, even though there was a war of feelings inside of her. She had to get Sebastian to leave, somehow, and not on a direct path to kill Jace when he did. Clary didn't know why, but she knew that if she couldn't at least calm Sebastian down a little bit he would find Jace and put an end to his existence.

"Sebbie," Clary said gently, using her pet name for him even though it tasted like sour milk in her mouth. It seemed to calm him down a little because his fists loosened a little and the flame in his eyes died. Sebastian's face was still hard and his body was still rigid, but he wasn't as lethal looking as he had been a few seconds ago. "I'm sorry; I should have tried harder to get letters to you. I was just so surprised when I got the news that you were on the other side."

Clary had slowly gotten out of bed and now stood beside it as she had attempted to mollify Sebastian, the words tasting like acid in her mouth the entire time. Simon had always told Clary she was a bad liar, but that was probably just because he knew her so well. Or at least that was what Clary hoped, because she really couldn't have Sebastian know she was lying right now.

Sebastian's eyes bored into her own, as if he was trying to dig out something that would falsify what she had just said. Clary no longer worried about keeping her true emotions off of her face or making others to fit the situation. She let the concern show in her eyes as if she was pleading with Sebastian. Clary just hoped that Sebastian saw the concern as directed towards him and not Jace and herself. Finally after what seemed like an eternity to Clary, Sebastian's posture relaxed and a smile that was only meant for Clary's eyes spread across his face.

"I'm sorry too," Sebastian said gently as he took a couple steps towards her. "I should have warned you somehow or just told you myself the truth. It must have been a complete shock, learning that I am the one who is leading the rebellion."

Clary forced herself to hold her ground and not retreat. "I will admit I never suspected it of you. You're just so passionate about being a Shadowhunter."

Sebastian sighed, "And that is exactly why I am doing this. Shadowhunters have lost sight of what's important, but right now that isn't important." He took another couple steps so that he was mere inches away from her.

Clary was about to question him when suddenly he bent down and kissed her. Too shocked to move away, Clary just stood there. Sebastian then put one hand in the small of her back and the other behind her head and pulled her closer to him. Clary struggled her hardest to not flinch away as her surprise faded. Much to Clary's disgust, she kissed him back, trying her hardest to imagine he was Jace and not the snake of a man standing in front of her.

Finally he pulled away, but Clary's skin was still crawling. Looking up at Sebastian, Clary forced her mouth to lift up into a smile. Though slightly disgusted, Clary did feel a little relieved as Sebastian looked down at her, his normal admiration of her glowing in his eyes, because him kissing her meant that he was no longer in that dark dangerous mood and that he had believed her.

"I'm sorry, my dear," Sebastian said with his hands resting on her shoulders. "I didn't mean to have such a sour mood with you. I'm afraid I allowed my jealousy and imagination run away from me."

"It's alright." Clary replied.

"I'm sorry about our wedding." He said with a sigh as he ran his fingers through her hair gently. Clary didn't know how to respond so she just looked at him, and resisted the urge she had to remove herself from his touch. "Things weren't supposed to go this way. We were to get married and then after our honeymoon I was going to explain everything to you. And _then_ war was to be started. I'm afraid things got out of hand, much to my displeasure."

"Why… why didn't you tell me sooner?" Clary pondered, though she knew the reason. He hadn't told her because he hadn't trusted her enough or had enough faith in them that she would still go through with the wedding. He had made the right call, she wouldn't have gone through with the wedding, and she would have told her father. Or at least she would like to think she would have, surely she hadn't been so entirely infatuated with him to ignore such a horrible truth.

"I didn't want you to keep such a heavy secret away from your family. " Sebastian eyes almost seemed sad, and then he almost looked ashamed as he continued. "And I'm embarrassed to say that I was too afraid to tell you. I didn't want to lose you."

Clary swallowed the snide remark that almost made it to her lips and cast her eyes down to the floor, not trusting herself enough to completely hide her true emotions.

"Sebastian," Clary started slowly once she felt confident enough to keep up her charade, "how much longer do you think this war will last?"

She forced herself to look up at him and saw him looking down at her with sad eyes. "I'm not sure, darling. My head members and I have been discussing the quickest way to end it with one fellow swoop, but we haven't found a solution that is…. acceptable." Sebastian said the last word as if it wasn't exactly what he was looking for.

Clary brightened a little bit, not at the idea that he too was looking for a way to end it now, but because she realized she could possibly get information from him. Sure, he wouldn't give her anything vital, he was too smart to do that, but even a minor thing was better than nothing.

"But you have ideas. Ideas about how you could win and what the outcome would be."

"Yes. There are many ideas that would result in us easily winning, but the likely hood of many enemy survivors isn't the best. I do not wish to kill off my enemy, only to have them under my rule and show them that my way is right. It is the last part that is a little bit tricky."

Clary's blood ran cold at the idea of her family and friends being killed and was a little relieved that Sebastian wasn't entirely set on killing off everyone who didn't see things his way. "When do you think that you'll finally have a plan? I'm so sick of this war, I just want it to be over as soon as possible."

Sebastian looked at Clary carefully, considering just how much he could tell her. "I'm hoping we have a plan by the time spring is here. Well, actually, I know we will have a plan by then. I made it clear to my subordinates that they had a deadline."

"Really?" Clary said excited. It wasn't much, much it was at least something.

"If I can help it." Sebastian said slowly, as if not sure how to take her excitement.

"I can't wait to see my parents and Luke again." Clary said wishfully. "I just want things to go back to normal, or as close to normal as possible."

Sebastian seemed to like this response because he smiled a little and kissed Clary lightly on her forehead. "I promise you it will. I'll end this war and you will be able to see your family again. And, we can finally get married."

The clock from downstairs chimed three o'clock and Sebastian let out a sigh. "I have to get going, I need to be back before the sun rises and I don't want to ride my horse too hard. He may be the fastest horse around, but even he can't win a race against the sun." He squeezed her hand gently and walked back towards the balcony. Clary followed and started to close the doors behind him. "I'll try to keep in touch better." Sebastian said with a wink before dropping over the edge of the balcony.

Clary closed the doors tight and made sure to lock them. She then pulled the heavy curtains over them and sank to the ground. She hadn't allowed herself to really analyze just what was happening while Sebastian was so close to her, but now she couldn't stop all of the thoughts swimming around her head. Nor could she hold onto the faux calm she had managed to pull off, because now that he was gone her heart was racing and her blood ran cold with fear and hatred.

Clary leaned back against the cold glass and closed her eyes. She forced herself to take a deep breath and tried to calm herself so she could straighten out everything in her mind. She opened her eyes once she her heart had slowed some and began to untangle the facts. Sebastian had come to her house, had snuck into her room. He had been mad about her not writing back and had sent her tea she hadn't received, and this had upset him greatly. He had seen the letter she had written to Jace and his ring around her neck. She had managed to calm him down. He still loved her and wanted to marry her. He had no intentions of killing everyone. He wanted the war done by spring. He would be back to camp by sunup.

Clary's eyes grew wide at the last thought. The sun would start to rise around a little before seven. This meant that his camp was only about four hours of hard riding away. Clary quickly got up and wrote Jace another letter, telling him about Sebastian's deadline, his approximate location, and his unwillingness to kill everyone. At the end of the letter, she once again warned him to be careful because Sebastian knew they were in contact with one another and even though Clary had managed to calm him down she didn't completely trust Sebastian to not act out on his jealousy.

Sealing the letter, Clary added it to the other two and went back to bed where she tossed and turned until the sun started its ascent into the sky, chasing away the moon and stars. Too worried about the letters, Clary decided to get up and get dressed, she wouldn't be getting anymore sleep until the moon and stars came back out. Once dressed Clary made her way downstairs with the letters in her possession and made a beeline to Marcus and made sure that he understood that they were to be sent that morning and to get to their destinations as quickly as possible. Marcus nodded and went on with his duties and Clary went about her day, trying to not worry too much and feeling a little better that what little information she had managed to get might possible help not only Jace and her family, but all of the Shadowhunters.

**I am very sorry that it took me this long to post this chapter. I never had a chance to just sit down and write it and only had a few minutes here and there to work on it. I hope you like it. Please don't be too angry with me. And I know there are errors that I was too impatient to find and correct and I am sorry for not catching them. I'm just so excited to get this chapter done with and posted that I don't really want to take extra time to find all the little details that need fixed. Please don't hate me.**


	16. Springs Coming

Chapter 16

Spring was getting closer and closer. The snow was almost completely gone and the days were getting warmer and warmer each day. The dead plants were even starting to come back to life. Every time the sun rose it just meant it was one more day until Sebastian's deadline. Clary couldn't help but feel anxious. She wanted this war to be over with and she wanted the Shadowhunters to have the victory and Sebastian put into a cell if he wasn't killed.

Clary was currently pacing in her room with a new letter from Sebastian lying on her desk. Much to her dismay, Sebastian had kept writing her since he had seen her last and the letters were coming more frequent now. Clary was just relieved that he hadn't made another surprise visit, she wasn't sure she would be able to act her way through another unnerving conversation with him. According to the letter he was in the process of forming a plan, there were just a few minor details to be finalized. It made Clary very nervous. She had been writing Jace every chance she got and made sure to include what little information, no matter how unimportant it seemed, she got from the letters Sebastian had written her. The first time she had gave Jace information they were able to find Sebastian's camp, but by the time they had arrived Sebastian and his rebels had packed up and moved again. With some help from some werewolves the Shadowhunters were able to pick up their trail and had been pursuing Sebastian ever since then. They were careful to not get too close seeing as they didn't have a plan either and didn't want Sebastian to catch on that he was being tracked.

"Miss Clary."

Clary was startled by the sound of her name and the knocking on her door. Coming back to reality, Clary made her way to her door and opened it.

"Marcus, what is it?"

"There is someone who wishes to see you, they are in the study."

"Thank you, Marcus." Clary said as she smoothed her skirts and stepped out of her room. Marcus nodded and accompanied Clary down the stairs and then went his own way as she continued to the study. She couldn't help but wonder who it was who had come to visit. Everyone was too busy with the war and its hopeful victory and the only person who had visited Clary recently was Jace, but Clary hadn't received a letter from in in several days now.

Clary opened the door and came to a standstill as she saw the long frame of the man sitting behind her father's desk.

"Hello, Clary." The man smiled with a spark in his eyes.

"Magnus." Clary said happily as she continued into the room and closed the door behind her. "I wasn't expecting you to make a visit anytime soon."

"Yes, well, with the war getting close to its wonderful finally I figured I had better make a visit just to make sure Sebastian doesn't try anything."

"What do you mean?" Clary looked at the cat-eyes warlock in confusion.

"The tea you sent me, it had some additives in it."

"Well, I obviously knew that. Why else would I want you to figure out how he had tampered with it?"

"You won't let me bask in my moment of glory even a minute will you." Magnus's face a mock expression of hurt.

"You are ridiculous, could you please just tell me what was in that tea?" Clary shook her head and crossed her arms as she fought back a smile.

"Yes, of course, after going through the tea I found traces of a couple different added potions. One was supposed to keep you from questioning his actions and following his will no matter what."

"And the other?" Clary took a step forward as Magnus paused.

"And the other was more or less a potion to make sure you were infatuated with him."

Clary's eyes hardened. "You mean a love potion."

"Yes," Magnus sighed. "The love potion to make him seem perfect in your eyes and the other to reinforce that you didn't try to defy him or leave him."

Clary felt rage and disgust whelm up within her. How could she have let that snake trick her like that? She should have realized that she wasn't really falling for him and that it was all just a ruse that benefited Sebastian. A hand touched her shoulder and Clary looked up to see Magnus standing in front of her. Just as sudden as the anger and repulsion had come it disappeared and was replaced with shame. He had played her just like he had everyone else, had toyed with her emotions and her future more so than anyone else and she had let him, even worse was she hadn't even put up a fight.

A soft chuckle came from Magnus as he looked down on her. "For such an independent strong headed girl you can be awful silly at times."

"I hate him." Clary's voice was soft and her stomach seemed to be twisting in on itself. She hated the fact that she felt weak, and she hated Sebastian even more for being the cause of it.

Magnus's cat eyes seemed to gain some sad knowing look that almost made him look old. "Trust me, Clary, we all do." Clary knew he was right, but it didn't make much of a difference to her. Sure Sebastian had been lying to everyone and no one had suspected a thing, but they weren't the one who had almost had to spend the rest of their life with him. Clary's stomach tightened again at the thought of being that snake's wife.

"But no need to worry, I'm sure this war will be over soon and that boy will be behind bars in Alicante." Magnus said his voice a little harder.

"Magnus, do you know anything about the battle plans?" Clary looked at him hopefully.

Magnus gave her a careful look before answering. "I know bits and pieces, but not much, at least not at the moment."

"Oh."

"Why?" Magnus raised his eyebrows at her.

"Well, it's just that-" Clary stopped. She knew she could trust Magnus but she wasn't sure if she should tell him.

"Just what?"

Clary looked at Magnus and made up her mind. "It's just that Sebastian had been sending me letters and I have been writing Jace what little information I thought would be helpful. I was just wondering if it was even helping."

Magnus just looked at her for a moment before he answered. "You are the one he's been getting information from!" Clary nodded. Magnus ran his hand through his hair. "Well I didn't expect that."

"So it has been helping." Clary looked at Magnus expectantly.

"Yes, a lot of the information you have been giving Jace has helped fill in some of the holes that the Shadowhunters kept running across. It especially helped when you gave away his location. Now we know where he is at all times." Magnus said, returning to the chair and sitting down.

"That's good." Clary said feeling a little relieved and happy inside that he information had helped some.

Magnus had his elbows on the desk and was resting his head in his hands. Suddenly he looked up and gave Clary an almost hard look. "Sebastian has been writing you?"

"Yes." Clary replied a little hesitantly, not sure of why Magnus seemed so alarmed all of a sudden.

"And all of his letters have been getting through to you?" Clary nodded feeling uneasy at the urgent tone in Magnus's voice. "Have you been writing him back?"

"Only twice because I had too." Clary's voice was weak even to hear own ears.

Magnus seemed to notice the change in Clary's voice and sighed. "I'm sorry, it is just that if he can get letters to you without anyone knowing, what else can he do?"

Clary had thought of that before but she had never really let herself dwell too long on it, until now. "He's capable of anything." Clary said a bit dryly as she gave Magnus an even look. "Even capable of having spies in our ranks." Magnus's eyes widened a bit and then they closed, with a sigh Magnus ran his hand down his face.

"If he does have a spy there is no telling who it could be. The only obvious people at the moment being your parents, Luke, and Jace. I mean, there are others that I don't have any doubts of, but there are still several I'm not sure of."

"Those making the decisions will just have to be more cautious. Don't tell any of the truly important things to those you're not certain of. When you leave here, you should go tell my father this. Tell him that he needs to have a solid proof plan with a band of people he trusts to be fully faithful to our cause, even if he doesn't always agree with them. My mother and Luke could help him."

Magnus gave her a smile. "When did you become such a Shadowhunter?"

"I was born a Shadowhunter, even if my father won't let me fight."

"Yes, well, Valentine is Valentine." Magnus said with an odd tone in his voice. Clary gave him a weird look, but Magnus smiled at her and said. "Sorry, your father and I haven't always seen eye to eye."

Clary sighed, she didn't doubt it. Her father was a very charismatic guy but not everyone agreed with everything he said and he father liked being a leader, meaning he didn't completely like it when people didn't share his views.

"Understandable, even he and Luke don't always see eye to eye." Clary smiled.

Magnus smiled at her and looked at his pocket watch as the clock in the hall started to chime the hour. "I'm afraid I must go now, my dear." He said looking back up at her.

"That's alright. Thank you for coming." Clary opened the door and followed Magnus to the front door.

"Anytime." Magnus bowed and started to go outside.

"Magnus," Clary said suddenly as a thought came to her.

He stopped and looked back at her, "Yes?"

"Do you know when my father is planning to go against Sebastian?"

"I not for sure when, and even if I did I wouldn't be able to tell you, but within the next week I do believe. If things go as we plan that is."

Clary let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. "Thank you," she nodded.

Magnus nodded his head at her and continued on his way.

"Safe travels, Magnus!" Clary called before he was to his horse. Magnus raised his hand up in the air in acknowledgement and Clary closed the door.

Clary brought her hand up to the ring that rested against her the nape of her neck as she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. A week, give or take a few days, that was all and then she could see Jace and her parents again and Sebastian would no longer be a worry. Finally.

**I am deeply sorry that once again it took so long to get another chapter posted. I started this a while ago and never had a chance to finish it until just now. Hope you liked it! Please leave a review they are always appreciated. **


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